Bayelsa assures CBN of effective loan disbursement

Bayelsa State Governor Henry Seriake Dickson has assured the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of his administration’s resolve to ensure that loan facilities the state receives from the apex bank are effectively disbursed in the state.
Dickson, who was represented by his deputy, Gboribiogha John Jonah, gave the assurance in Government House, Yenagoa on Tuesday, when a CBN delegation led by Osita Nwandisobi, deputy director, Development and Finance, paid him a courtesy visit.
The state is cautious being more concerned with setting up a recovery mechanism before disbursement to ensure that beneficiaries do not disappear after receiving the loans as in the past, he said.
In his words: “Based on history there have been certain agricultural private facilities that the state government entered into where people just signed and collected with no intention of paying back as they see it as part of the national cake.
“If you hear that we did not disburse the money at the rate you expected, one of the factors must have been that we are being cautious in disbursing the funds without a proper recovery plan. We must have a recovery plan because the tendency to pay back is always a difficult one in this state.”
Dickson further assured the CBN of his government’s determination that those for whom the loan is intended benefit from the facility so that they can enjoy the dividends of democracy.
Earlier, the leader of the CBN delegation and deputy director, Development and Finance, Osita Nwandisobi, said they were in the state to track the disbursement of the MSMEs facility.
Nwandisobi said Bayelsa State had so far received N1.5 billion from two tranches of the loans since 2015, and the third tranche of the loan would be release based on the disbursement.
He reiterated the policy of the apex bank to embark upon a bottom-top approach to grow the economy by getting artisans and petty traders in the hinterland to participate in the economic space.
“We are here to see the utilization of the facility; we will look at the books to see the disbursement that has taken place. On the basis of that, we will release the third tranche. We need to grow the economy from the bottom of the pyramid and the only way is to get the artisans and petty traders in the hinterland into the economic space,” he said.

 

Samuel Ese, Yenagoa