“CBN halts Anchor Borrowers Programme’s funding, farmers kick.”
Report November 11, 2022.
One is often sad when good intentions overcome good sense, when formulating programmes and we end up creating a lot of unintended problems.
Anchor Borrowers Programme, ABP, is one of the most heart-breaking among Federal Government’s attempts to improve our lives.
I honestly feel sorry for President Buhari, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, All Nigerian Farmers and all Nigerians who will feel the lashes of this inevitable measure by the CBN.
The step is inescapable for reasons stated several times on these pages; and which were ignored. For me, the fall of ABP was not just an accident; it was an accident waiting to happen.
However, before going forward to discuss this new development, it is pertinent to take a step backwards – to February this year.
‘The arch-flatterer, with whom all the petty flatterers have intelligence, is a man’s self.’ Francis Bacon,
In February of this year, a group of absolutely ignorant people took to the media asking Mr Emefiele to run for the Presidency.
The CBN Governor actually took them seriously; and actually went as far as to pay for an All Progressives Congress, APC, form and to go to court to insist on his right to run for the office.
In am article, published here and titled “Governor Emefiele, Stay in CBN till the end”, Emefiele was advised to ignore the praise singers and face his job.
He too ignored the advice until his party membership was revealed and he has tarnished his image.
Emefiele fell for the cheap flattery of political scammers who convinced him first, and then tried to convince Nigerians that the ABP was a grand success.
They latched unto the fake Rice Pyramid show at Abuja to promote his presidential bid. Emefiele swallowed the bait – against all truthful information at the disposal of the bank.
In fact, as early as February of this year, there was ample evidence to prove that the ABP was crumbling and nothing could save it – except a miracle.
“If you shut up the truth and bury it underground; it will but grow and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it burst through, it will blow up everything in its way.” Emile Zola, 1840-1902
In June 2021, in an article titled ‘Anchor Borrowers Mass Default Imminent”, ten reasons were provided to explain why ABP would face massive loan defaults.
The bank’s records already signalled serious problems with the scheme at a time when the Governor was accepting commendations for the so-called success of ABP.
Today, I am once again vindicated by the turn of events. Readers, who can take the trouble, are invited to go and read what President Buhari said on October 1, 2022 about a programme which was about to bite the dust.
You would think he was describing something which has provided Nigerians with sustainable food security instead of another failed venture. CBN has now blown up Buhari’s falsehood on this matter. However, the demise of ABP leaves us with a lot of questions and problems. Here are a few to ponder.
Why Now?
Many cynical observers might point to the fact that the CBN is taking steps to distance itself from the failure of ABP now that Buhari has become a toothless lion.
ABP was a fiscal/monetary conspiracy which the FG and CBN expected will secure their legacies with regard to food security.
Certainly, nobody now expects that to happen before Buhari leaves office next year. Instead famine on an unprecedented scale appears imminent.
Buhari will leave in May 2023; Emefiele still has another year to go. ABP or anything like it was never part of the core mandate of the bank. It has failed woefully; but, the CBN has been shielded from attempts by the National Assembly, NASS, to probe its activities by the Federal Government.
A new government, even if APC, might ask questions of the Governor – who crossed the “red line” separating fiscal and monetary policy authorities. Somebody has to be held responsible for losses running into hundreds of billions – particularly when it is being alleged that the loans were politicised. Economists warned the CBN against the implied incestuous relationship between the APC-FG and the bank. It was unhealthy; now it threatens to be explosive.
What Will Be The Consequences Of Abp Collapse?
“Therefore, we are calling on the President to again ask them (CBN) to continue supporting farmers in Nigeria to scale up capacity and produce what Nigerians can eat.” Sadiq Daware, Chairman, Forum of Agricultural Commodity Association Presidents.
Almost 78 per cent of the ABP loans went to Northern farmers and one debtor , now deceased, received the lion’s share of the cotton intervention funds.
Mr Sadiq can be forgiven for not realising that the CBN Decree 24 (amended) of 1991 has given the bank a great deal of autonomy in its operations. Buhari cannot ask the CBN to continue to support a fiscal policy programme of an out-going government and create problems for the next administration; especially when the programme has failed so woefully.
CBN has no choice but to wind it down. Granted, CBN committed a blunder by getting involved with an FG fiscal policy programme, as some of us, including Chief Olu Falae and a former CBN Governor, had pointed out right from the start.
Now, the bank must extricate itself from the colossal error; and close the books on this project.
Unfortunately, that inevitable closure is coming at the wrong time for all stakeholders – particularly the masses of Nigerians.
A greater percentage of this year’s harvest will not reach the consumer than in previous years. Post-harvest losses, estimated at 40 per cent annually, always account for most of the reasons food is expensive and poor Nigerians suffer malnutrition.
This year, the pre-harvest losses will worsen food scarcity. President Buhari, on his way to London instructed the CBN and Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that acute food shortage is avoided.
Buhari spoke mostly in vain. Only massive imports can avert a disaster which is already gaining global attention.
The Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO, of the United Nations Organisation, UNO, appears more concerned about our plight than Buhari since the greatest flood to hit us demolished our nation’s potential food supply.
He apparently does not know, nor care, that the CBN has very little foreign exchange to allocate to food importers. Buhari’s Minister of Agriculture was just as pathetic with his utterances.
After announcing that 250,000 tons of grains, enough to feed Lagos state for one week, will be released; he talked about dry season farming as a solution to averting horrible famine this year and next.
The fellow reminds me of that statement by US President Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826. “Farming would be mighty easy if it is only done with a pencil [or computer] seating in a comfortable office.”
Our academic Minister of Agriculture obviously has never had to face the disaster brought about by flood on farms.
Otherwise, he would have known that when this year’s harvest is under flood water, and over 4 million farmers have been wiped out, two million in Internally Displaced People, IDP, camps, the last thing the farmers affected think about is dry season farming.
How will they obtain the fresh seedlings, fertiliser, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides now that the doors of ABP have been slammed in their faces? For Nigerians, this catastrophe could not have occurred at a worse time.
We have a lame duck FG, which had exceeded its borrowing powers, with no idea about how to rescue us from our impending predicament. Only God can help us now.
Read the full article here
