CEM REPORT, FINANCE | The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has started recovering loans dished out to several Nigerians.
CBN in conjunction with NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, (NMFB) had started recovering facilities granted to Nigerians under the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) and the Agric, Small and Medium Enterprise Scheme (AGSMEIS) as several Nigerians have started receiving debit alerts.
The beneficiaries of the COVID-19 TCF and AGSMEIS facilities had their accounts placed on Global Standing Instruction (GSI).
The Global Standing Instruction (“GSI”) is a mandate authorising the recovery of due loan obligations from any and all deposit accounts maintained by a defaulting borrower with other banks other than the creditor bank.
Also targeted for loan recovery are defaulters of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), some of whom have already had their accounts debited.
In August 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) authorised NIRSAL Microfinance Bank to recover N5,840,450,992.08 non-performing loans from eight agric businesses that got loans under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).
The CBN under the TCF Household programme dished out credit facilities valued at N258,167,332,386.38 to 639,197 individuals while the SME component of the facility witnessed 112,921 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) receiving loans valued at N112,203,609,105.94.
TCF Household beneficiaries received as little as N250,000 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to buy food and sustain themselves. Many beneficiaries lost their jobs and many more are still unemployed.
Although, NIRSAL MFB (NMFB) have stated that defaulting beneficiaries of the facilities can walk into NMfB branches to restructure their loans.
The restructuring, the bank said, will involve agreeing with the bank on when to start repayment and the amount affected debtors can afford to repay at an agreed but convenient time.
Loan beneficiaries who have been debited have lamented the sums harvested from their account.
While some are crying that the debit came with prior warning others are lamenting the sums pulled from their account noting that nothing was left for them.
Recall that Philip Yila, Director Development Finance Department of the CBN, during the post-Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), vowed that “every single person who has taken that loan is going to pay. We have their BVN. In fact, we have started implementing the Global Standing Instruction (GSI)”.
“We will continue to poll the account in the bank that they lent to or whichever bank that they have an account. Anytime we see money in that account, we will recover it.”
