The NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have begun recovering loans from Nigerians.
By mid-afternoon yesterday, many Nigerians had begun to get debit alerts on their phones.
The news that the NMFB had begun reclaiming funds provided to Nigerians under the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) and the Agricultural, Small and Medium Enterprise Scheme was making waves everywhere (AGSMEIS).
Many loan recipients were astonished by the amounts taken from their accounts, even though the recovery effort had been planned for some time in response to warnings from the CBN and NMFB.
The TCF and AGSMEIS facilities for COVID-19 beneficiaries had their accounts placed on global standing instruction (GSI).
In accordance with the Global Standing Instruction (“GSI”), any and all deposit accounts held by a defaulting borrower with banks other than the creditor bank may be used to recover unpaid loan obligations.
Mr. Kuma, one of the facility users, screamed in protest, “Why are they sweeping everything in people’s accounts?”
Only N657.14 remained in Ms. Elizabeth Christopher’s children’s bank account, she claimed, with the note “GSI Recovery” attached.
The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) defaulters, some of whom have already had their accounts debited, are also targeted for debt recovery.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) authorized NIRSAL Microfinance Bank to recover non-performing loans totaling N5,840,450,992.08 from eight agricultural enterprises that received loans through the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme in August 2022. (ABP).
The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme aims to establish a connection between smallholder farmers (SHFs) and anchor firms that process the essential core agricultural commodities.
Under the TCF Household programme, 639,197 individuals received credit facilities valued at N258,167,332,386.38 while the SME component of the facility witnessed 112,921 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) receiving loans valued at N112,203,609,105.94.
TCF Household beneficiaries received as little as N250,000 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to buy food and sustain themselves. Many beneficiaries lost their jobs and many more are still unemployed.
Mr. Philip Yila, Director Development Finance Department of the CBN, during the post Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), had vowed that “every single person who has taken that loan is going to pay. We have their BVN. In fact, we have started implementing the Global Standing Instruction (GSI)”.
We will keep checking the account at the bank where they had a loan or in any other bank where they have an account. We will retrieve any funds we discover in that account.
According to a source at the NIRSAL MFB (NMFB), beneficiaries of the facilities who are in default can stroll into NMfB branches to restructure their debts.
According to the source, the restructuring will entail deciding with the bank when to begin repayment as well as the amount impacted debtors can afford to repay at a mutually agreeable period.
