Govt to recover loans from Anchor Borrowers Programme

From Tony Akowe, Abuja

The House of Representatives has said that it will do everything possible to recover all monies given out as loans to Nigerians by the Bank of Agriculture, under the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) initiative, saying such loans should not be seen as share of the national cake.

Chairman of the House Committee on Agricultural Production and Services, Dandutse Mohammed, told The Nation that the Bank of Agriculture is aimed at aiding the development of the agiculture value chain.

According to him, the ABP of the Federal government has impacted positively on the economy of the country as evidenced by the increase in food production, increase in the capacity of farmers, wealth creation and employment opportunities.

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He said the Bank of Agriculture was one of the participating financial institution used by the Central Bank of Nigeria in the implementation of the programme and has disbursed funds to about 427,984 farmers covering 493,224.18 hectres of farmland across the country.

He lamented that laudable as the programme has been, some Nigerians who benefited from the programme have misconstrued it as “sharing the national cake”, thereby trying to cripple the programme.

He maintained that agriculture remains a vital sector of every country’s economy, which explains the efforts by the Federal government to diversify the economy through the agriculture value chain with a view to creating huge investment potentials.

He appeal to Nigerians, particularly farmers to support government efforts towards enriching the sector through the Anchor Borrowers Programme and other interventions and ensure that they meet their obligations as and when due for the benefit of all Nigerians.