The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it has only recovered the sum of N3.7 trillion so far, out of a total loan of N9.3 trillion under its intervention program to businesses.
“As of September 27, 2022, N3.7 trillion had been repaid by the obligors and most of the loans are still under moratorium, especially manufacturing, which forms the largest pile of CBN’s portfolio – over 31 percent,” said CBN’s Director in charge of the Development Finance Department, Philip Yila Yusuf.
In view of this, the CBN warned all its debtors to immediately begin repayment of their loans, or else risk visitation by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for forceful recovery.
According to Yila, the intervention funds had been slowed down in the bank’s efforts to rein in inflation.
He, however, warned that the bank is coming after debtors who will refuse to repay their loans when due.
He said the bank had collaborated with the EFCC to set up a desk with a view to recovering the loans.
“Any person who borrowed from us will pay back. We have also started recovering those loans from state governments. We have been doing a long workout program on them.
Any state government that has benefitted from our fund and is already in default, over a six-month period, we’re going to be debiting them at N50 million every month, and we have started that program,” he said.
Yila narrates that the loans were securitized and critical sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, health, exports, and SMEs had benefitted from the intervention.
