From Okwe Obi, Abuja
A fierce dispute has erupted between the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) and members of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) over the repayment of a whopping N20 billion loan the farmers reportedly owe the bank.
At the moment, both parties are trading accusations even as calls for transparency and accountability in the recovery of agricultural funds reach a crescendo. Chief Executive Officer of BOA, Ayo Sotinrin, last week, insisted that the bank would go after the debtors after the exhaustion of appeals.
Sotinrin said the BOA was not running a charitable organisation that would dole out monies for free, noting it would not watch farmers rip-off the government.
He said: “BOA does not engage in largesse. We are not a political association or movement; we are a bank, even though it is owned by the government.
“We are beginning an ‘operation recover loan’ to appeal to those who owe the bank to bring our money back.
“Also, to tell them that if they are able to return their loans, they will be entitled to new loans but with a new condition. We plan to digitize the bank. We are almost there.”
But AFAN National President, Kabir Ibrahim, countered Sotinrin, maintaining that farmers did not collect loans from the bank.
Ibrahim challenged the BOA boss to publish the names of indebted farmers.
He said: “I challenge the bank to publish the names of farmers that collected loans. I can tell you that farmers did not collect money from the Bank of Agriculture.
“Even the Anchor Borrowers Scheme by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), how many farmers benefitted? So, the BOA should release the names of farmers indebted to it.”
Also, the Food and Agriculture Programme Officer of ActionAid Nigeria, Azubike Nwokoye, argued that those loans were collected by political farmers.
He charged the government to profile those farmers. He complained that even the recapitalisation could be another unfulfilled promise.
He said: “There is a need for the government to make financial commitments. The capitalisation should be cash-backed.
“This is because they speak on it and they don’t release the money. The government had made the same promise and they did not release the money. So, in terms of debt, those farmers who collected money should be profiled.
“Sometimes there is a lot of political interference. The governors, senators, even the presidency can say, ‘Give money to this particular person or people.’ This is one of the reasons we have debt.
“So, the bank will need to check the profile of the debtors. It will be our politicians. They collect it as part of their national cake.”
“It is another fruitless venture. This is not the first time we are hearing about the bank chasing debtors. Nobody, so far, has been prosecuted. We are genuine farmers who need this money to cultivate crops.
“But they will not give it to us. The lending requirements are too difficult to meet. That is why you see that real farmers hardly get the money.
“I can bet you that nobody will be prosecuted because they are children or associates of politicians,” said Ngozi Emmanuel, a farmer in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
A cocoa farmer, Onenu Peter, charged the bank to liberalise the process for loan accessibility.
Peter said: “Even if you go to their website to see how you can get a loan, there is no meaningful information. It is like everything is shrouded in secrecy. BOA should step up its game. This is not the time for us to play politics.
“Also, we await the 1.5 billion recapitalisation fund. The government had made the same commitment, but we did not see anything. Let us hope that things will change now.”
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