FILE PHOTO: Central Bank of Nigeria's logo is seen on the headquarters building in Abuja, Nigeria January 22, 2018. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde/File Photo - RC1E81C7FA80
CBN disbursed N864bn to 4.1m farmers under Anchor Borrowers’ Programme-Emefiele
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has so far disbursed the sum of N864 billion to 4.1 million farmers cultivating 5.02 million hectares of land under its Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).
CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, who disclosed this at the recently held Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, revealed that the amount is what the CBN has spent since the programme kicked off in 2015.
He said that between September and October, the apex bank disbursed N43.19 billion to support the cultivation of over 250,000 hectares of maize, sorghum, soya beans and rice in the 2021 dry season farming, under the scheme and N5.88 billion to finance six large-scale agricultural projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS).
Emefiele said “The bank also disbursed the sum of N41.2 billion for the commencement of the brown revolution, a large-scale wheat programme to wean us off imports by 35 per cent in the first year.
“In addition, the bank disbursed the sum of N261.92 billion for 42 additional projects under the N1 trillion manufacturing intervention. Cumulatively, the bank has disbursed the sum of N1.08 trillion under the Scheme.’’
He added that as part of its effort to support the resilience of the healthcare sector, the CBN disbursed N5.39 billion to nine healthcare projects under the Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF).
“The bank has also cumulatively disbursed the sum of N108.65 billion to hospitals and pharmaceutical industry. Fifty-four of the 117 projects funded were for hospital services,’’ he said.
The CBN boss said that funding for the health sector had resulted in the establishment of two new cancer centres, over 59 MRI and more than 42 CT Scan centres in Nigeria, within the last 18 months, and to promote entrepreneurship development among Nigerian youths, the bank recently approved the implementation of the Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES).
He added that the Entrepreneurship Scheme is designed to create a paradigm shift among undergraduates and graduates of tertiary institutions in Nigeria from white-collar jobs towards entrepreneurship development.
“The guidelines for the implementation of the scheme were recently published, as the Bank of Industry is presently partnering with the CBN for the pilot implementation phase,’’ he said.
Under the intervention programme dubbed, ‘The Nigerian Brown Revolution,” the apex bank seeks to save $2 billion spent on importing five million metric tons of wheat annually.
Emefiele said, “The bank also disbursed the sum of N41.2 billion for the commencement of the brown revolution, a large-scale wheat programme to wean us off imports by 35 per cent in the first year.”
Emefiele went on to say that the bank had disbursed a total of N864 billion to 4.1 million farmers who cultivated 5.02 million hectares. He also said that the bank had disbursed N261.92 billion for 42 additional projects under the N1 trillion manufacturing intervention.
