The federal government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), has commenced the sale of 200,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice to 18 Nigerian millers.
The CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, made this known at the 5th year anniversary of the ABP at Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State.
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“Just as we have given the money to farmers for the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, we will be disbursing the paddy aggregation loans to those millers. This is in order to pay the farmers so that they can repay their loans,” Emefiele said.
He said the CBN had financed 2,923,937 smallholder farmers cultivating 3,647,643 hectares of land across 21 commodities through about 33 participating financial institutions in the country.
Emefiele said the experience of 2015 till date had led to a significant improvement in the execution of the programme. He said the bank had added several layers of control to improve on transparency and accountability among stakeholders. (NAN)
