MAAN seeks EFCC, DSS, police help to recover anchor borrowers’ loans from maize farmers

The Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN) says it is working with the Department of State Services (DSS), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the police to recover loans given to members under the anchor borrowers’ programme (ABP).

Bello Abubakar, MAAN’s national president, spoke in Abuja on Thursday at a press conference following a three-day meeting of the association’s state chairmen, zonal coordinators, and national officers.

Abubakar said the loans were disbursed between 2018 and 2021 to boost maize production.

“The purpose of this press briefing is to inform the general public of efforts being made in recovering the anchor borrowers programme loan given to the association from 2018 to 2021 for maize production,” he said.

He noted that the scheme was a revolving loan designed for full recovery from farmers.

“MAAN understands that the ABP/CBN programme is a revolving loan due for full recovery, depending on the participants (farmers) for compliance,” he said.

“However, and unfortunately, there was a monumental disappointment; many beneficiaries saw the funds as a national cake.”

Abubakar said the refusal of many farmers to repay their loans forced the association to take action.

“MAAN was constrained to write several demand letters to the defaulters as well as seek synergy with the law enforcement and anti-graft agencies like EFCC, DSS, and the Nigeria Police for assistance in line with federal government policies of loan recovery,” he said.

“It is most unfortunate that some of the participants/defaulters, in trying to evade responsibility to both MAAN and the agencies in support of our loan recovery, took us to various courts for enforcement of their purported human rights, which they claimed were violated.”

Abubakar added that the association has also sued some defaulters, with most of the cases still pending in court.

‘INSECURITY, FLOODING THREATENING MAIZE PRODUCTION’

On the challenges facing maize farmers, Abubakar said insecurity remains a major threat.

“Some of our farms and farmers were burnt, kidnapped, and killed by bandits on the farms in Niger, Zamfara, Katsina, Borno, Yobe, Sokoto, Ondo, and Ekiti states,” he said.

Flooding, he added, has also hit farmers in Kogi, Benue, Cross River, Jigawa, Katsina, Taraba, Niger, Kebbi, and Kwara states, while drought has affected members in Oyo, Kwara, Niger, Ondo, and Ekiti.

The association chairman urged the federal government to “create an enabling environment that will give smallholder farmers the opportunity to settle their outstanding loans and produce for domestic needs and exports.”

He appealed for the inclusion of commodity associations in agricultural policy formulation and called for compassion toward farmers, given the “unmitigated and debilitating factors making productive farming and harvest impossible.”

Abubakar asked the federal government to either waive or reduce its outstanding obligations under the CBN/ABP scheme while commending President Bola Tinubu’s administration for its food security efforts.