Applicants of the N150 billion COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) intervention scheme and the Agri-Business Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme(AGSMEIS) have alleged massive racketeering and sharp practices in the disbursement of the over N257 billion funds being managed by the microfinance bank of the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).
The TCF scheme was set up in March 2020 to help individuals and businesses mitigate the negative impact of the Corona virus pandemic while AGSMEIS, an initiative of the Bankers’ Committee to support the federal government’s efforts in ensuring access to finance for SMEs was approved and has been running since 2017.
Beneficiaries were expected to, in their applications, show verifiable evidence that either their households or business enterprises were adversely affected by the pandemic. Households were to access a maximum of N3 million while businesses could get up to N25 million, depending on the activity, industry size and cash flow of the business.
As at March 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it had disbursed N149.21 billion to 316,869 households and businesses under the TCF to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The apex bank said the success of the scheme and its positive impact on output growth, had prompted it to double the fund to N300 billion, with phase two of the scheme billed to commence soon.
Similarly, in January 2021, the CBN said it had so far disbursed a total of N106.96 billion to 27,956 beneficiaries of AGSMEIS.
Granted offer letters, not loan
However, some of those who applied for the TCF and were granted the loan, with their names published on the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB) website and other as beneficiaries but their accounts were never credited.
One of them, Jafaru Dahiru, Founder of Kano-based Gidan Noma Universal Concept Ltd, told 21st Century Chronicle that he applied for an SME loan facility under the COVID-19 targeted credit facility and in May 2020, his name was published as one of the beneficiaries.
According to him, NMFB sent him a loan offer letter with reference no: COVID19TCF/SME/NMFB/13052020/
The agro-processor, who operates in the palm oil value chain, said the business was never paid till date, even after several visits to the bank’s headquarters in Abuja, where he met and presented his case to the relevant desk officers and they promised to rectify the anomaly.
Lamenting his plight, Dahiru said: “What makes it even worse is that there are several other intervention funds I could have applied and benefitted from to help my business bounce back from the effects of the pandemic but I am ineligible because I am already listed as a beneficiary of this scheme.”
Another victim, a fashion designer, who preferred anonymity for fear of being victimised, as she is still interested in accessing the intervention funds, said she applied for a loan under the Agri-Business Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) and was interviewed in Abuja over a year ago and sent an offer letter but was never paid.
‘Bank officials demand cut before payment’
“I visited one of the bank’s branches in Abuja to complain and one of the staff said he could help me get the money by putting my name on the payment list if I committed to giving him a fraction of it when paid but I declined because it is a loan I would have to pay back,” she narrated.
Sharing a similar experience, another agro-processor in Lagos lamented that the bank’s recommended vendors didn’t have the equipment she had indicated in her application that she needed money to buy but rather than get the equipment for her or pay to her own vendor whose invoice she had earlier submitted, the vendor requested for a “cut from the money before they’ll pay me.”
“What I suspect is that these vendors are family, friends and cronies of the bank management. It never used to be like this. Others who got the loan before me submitted invoices from their appointed vendors who had the equipment they needed and the vendors were paid to supply them.
“The bank suddenly introduced a system whereby you must patronise their own vendors some of who do not sell the equipment at all while those who have them sell more costly than you’ll get elsewhere,” she said.
Several other applicants who applied for the AGSMEIS facility lamented that they completed training over one year ago and uploaded their business plans on the bank’s portal as required but had yet to get any feedback in the form of approval or rejection of their applications.
National Assembly probes
It would be recalled that in June 2020, following a motion by Jaha Ahmadu Usman,the House of Representatives had set up an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate the activities of the Development Finance Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NIRSAL and any other such schemes under the Department, following complaints of difficulty in accessing the intervention schemes and allegations of diversion of over N1 billion into a personal account of one of the management staff of NMFB.
Allegations unknown to us – Bank
Acting Head, Corporate Communications of the bank, Ogwa Vivian Onyedibia in an emailed response to the allegations said they were unknown to the bank.
“These allegations are unknown to the bank. Whoever has a complaint has various channels to lay complaints and make enquiries and I assure you they will be attended to accordingly,” she said.
On whether an impact assessment has been carried out for the first tranche of N150 billion disbursed under the targeted credit facility, as the bank prepares to launch phase 2 of the scheme, and how it has improved the economy, she did not give specifics as requested but said “…the impact to the economy is far reaching as testimonies of beneficiaries and feedback on the Bank’s activities are heard.”
