CBN recovers N3.7 trillion out of N9 trillion disbursed as intervention funds

The apex bank also clarified that the balance of about N5 trillion was yet to the recovered as the money was not yet due for collection.

The Director, Development Finance Department CBN, Mr. Yusuf Yila while giving more explanation on the investment of the apex bank on the Anchor borrowers program noted that the bank had already recovered N400 billion out of the N1 trillion invested in the program.

Yila also disclosed that the CBN had activated the Global Standing Instruction (GSI) to recover loans from the various beneficiaries of the intervention support.

The EFCC has also been put in the picture as the apex bank intends to hand over some of the defaulting beneficiaries to the body.

Recall in July 2020, the apex bank had released an operational guideline on the GSI, a mandate instructing banks to directly debit loan defaulters from any of their accounts that is directly linked to their BVN.

This mandate was ratified via a letter from the CBN in January 2022 instructing banks to go ahead with the mandate in order to ensure loan recovery.

Yari faulted the beneficiaries for treating the CBN’s interventions as grants, noting there were loans that must be paid back,

The indebtedness of the beneficiaries had caused the CBN to halt its various intervention programmes and focus only on the priority areas, particularly electricity and SMEs.

Yari, however, noted that the CBN was not going to shut down the intervention schemes despite the hitches faced with the repayment.

For defaulting States, Yila noted that some of the state governments have been responsive as most have started paying up their debts.

He added that the bank had set up a loan workout programme with the states and had raised a mandate to debit their Federal Account and Allocation Committee (FAAC) accounts directly for the loans.