The Central Bank of Nigeria has warned all its debtors to immediately begin repayment of their loans, else risk visitation by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for forceful recovery.
Bellnewsonline.com reports that the apex bank issued the threat in Abuja on Wednesday at a post-287th Monetary Policy Committee press conference.
CBN revealed in its presentation that it lent out the sum of N9.3tn to businesses out of which manufacturers lead the pack of beneficiaries gulping 31 per cent.
Out of the total sum sent out, the apex bank said it was able to recover the sum of N3.7tn while N5tn was not yet due.
Giving the updates, Director of Development Finance, CBN, Dr Yusuf Yila, said it was the first time manufacturers were getting a long-term finance scheme with a reasonable moratorium.
According to him, the intervention funds had been slowed down in the bank’s efforts to rein in inflation. Giving a further breakdown of the fund disbursement, Yila said N1tn was disbursed under the Anchor Borrowers Programme while N400bn had been recovered.
He, however, warned that the bank is coming after debtors who will refuse to repay their loans when due. He said the bank had collaborated with the EFCC to set up a desk with a view to recovering the loans.
“Any person who borrowed from us will pay back. We have also started recovering those loans from state governments. We have been doing a long workout programme on them. Any state government that has benefitted from our fund and is already in default, over a six-month period, we’re going to be debiting them at N50 million every month, and we have started that programme,”me
he said.
Yila narrates that the loans were securitised and critical sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, health, exports and SMEs had benefitted from the intervention. He admitted that the bank was at risk around the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.