Follow Us on Google
From: Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Kebbi State chapter, has disclosed that only 1,500 of its members benefited from the Anchored Borrowers Loan given to the Rice and Wheat Farmers in the state.
The association claimed that 80 of its members were in prison for alleged loan-defaulting despite that they were not given full money they signed for.
It would be recalled that Federal Government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), distributed about N15 billion to rice and wheat farmers in the state in 2015 to practice irrigation farming.
The Kebbi State Government had claimed that it registered 70,000 farmers for the scheme while many of the farmers defaulted. The Deputy Governor of the state, Col. Samaila Yombai Dabai, and his recovery team were inaugurated and have being chasing defaulters to recover the loan since 2016.
While addressing journalists, on Wednesday, at a press conference, in Birnin-Kebbi, the state’s Secretary of AFAN, Alhaji Muhammed Idris, confirmed that only 1,500 out of 800,000 registered farmers with the association benefitted.
He said: ” 90 percent of real farmers who applied for the Anchored Borrowers loan were not given. They gave it to politicians and political thugs.
“The second phase of the loan were even dedicated to civil servants and 80 percent of the beneficiaries were not farmers. Our farmers did not got any support from government.”.
He also denied government’s claims that rice farmers produced 1.5 million tonnes in Kebbi State as a result of Anchored Borrowers programme stressed only few farmers planted rice while many benefactors did not cultivated any land.
Idrish lamented that 80 of their members were in prison for the loan default saying ” their politicians,political thugs who have not repaid are walking freely on streets while 80 of our members who was not given full loan are in prison. Is that justice?, he asked rhetorically.
He appealed to Federal government to remove the distribution of agriculture loans from state governments stressed that Banks should be granted the power to share such loans to farmers if President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration aims of embark on the scheme would not be defeated.
