The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has begun moves against beneficiaries of its Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) who have defaulted in their loan repayments.
This development follows the action by NIRSAL Microfinance Bank Limited (NMFB) which has published the names of some of the borrowers with the largest Non-Performing Loans (NPL).
The NMFB, in a demand notice issued in Abuja, indicated that it had reached out to the beneficiaries who it said had remained adamant in the call for the repayment of their overdue loans.
It said, “Following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive to NIRSAL Microfinance Bank Limited (NMFB), to recover all non-performing intervention loans granted by NMFB under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (an intervention Scheme of the CBN), notice is hereby given to the under-listed customers, to offset their indebtedness to NMFB under the said intervention scheme of the CBN.
“Earlier Demand Notices have been issued by NMFB to the last known addresses of the aforesaid customers, hence, this Public Notice serves as the final demand notice.”
A report in November 2021 revealed that farmers who subscribed to the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme owed the apex bank N463bn as of the end of March 2021, data from the CBN Economic Report for April 2021 showed.