CBN/NIRSAL LOANS: Youths Lament Despite Many Financial Windows, Applicants For AGSMEIS Loan Battles Hopelessly

State Correspondent

The National Coordinator
Buhari Pen Pals Organisation, Tanimu Abdullahi has expressed displeasure over frustrations Nigerian youths are going through in accessing the lots of financial widows made available for the Nigerian youths through CBN and NIRSAL Micro Finance Bank.

Tanimu who made this known in a press release made available to journalists in Abuja on Saturday, lambasted the heads of the agencies stating that they are against the policies and programs of President Muhammadu Buhari.

In his words, “One of the most difficult challenges that confront AGSMEIS loan applicants in Nigeria is access to loan to finance their business plan operations, a situation that makes many of them to remain at subsistent level. The growing incidence and the dynamics of poverty in Nigeria have stratified and polarised Nigeria society between the haves and the have-nots, between the North and the South, between the educated and the uneducated. Poor parents beget poor children, creating a kind of dynasty of the poor. The resulting tensions and social conflicts have eroded the fabric that held society together.

“AGSMEIS is an initiative to support the FG’s efforts and policy measures for the promotion of Agricultural businesses and small/medium enterprises (SMEs) as vehicle for sustainable economic development and employment generation. The CBN’s AGSMEIS loan disbursement now reserved for the individual briefcase men calling themselves “pay as you earn” syndrome. The last year CBN Communique no. 139 of the MPC meeting held in – November 22 – 23, 2021, the accumulated amount under AGSMEIS, the CBN said to have released was N134.63 billion to 37,571 entrepreneurs, but this year 2022 CBN Communique no. 140 of the MPC Meeting held in January, AGSMEIS was excluded and reason not yet ascertain when l read it.

“However, despite many financial windows introduced by the CBN, AGSMEIS loan applicants battle to access the credit loan facility. The CBN, for example, has several funds set aside for farmers to access through commercial banks, but many of them complain that the conditions set by those commercial banks are so rigid that they cannot access it. The same thing applied to AGSMEIS loan applicants through the CBN. The kickback demand syndrome by those in the helm of affairs bedeviled the smooth disbursement of the AGSMEIS loan. No facility is ever granted without a kickback by bank staffs. The have and the have-nots are helter skelter. From inception to date, about 90% of the applicants have not been able to access the AGSMEIS loan because of the bureaucratic procedures involved. Just imagine, a lot of CBN licenced training centres are just collecting money from AGSMEIS loan applicants alike for training and preparation of feasibility study, which at the end might not result to any money being released by NIRSAL Microfinance.

“More so, a case study of one of the CBN licensed training centre in Gusau, Zamfara state, A.I. Development Service Limited own by A.A Gusau who happened to be the Entrepreneurship Development lnstitute (EDI) in charge of some states in the North West zone did not help matters in helping the AGSMEIS loan applicants likewise his counterparts in other states of the federation. The EDIs play significant role in deceiving these applicants whose money were collected for the purpose of the loan. The CBN licensed training institution that trained most of the AGSMEIS loan applicants after giving them the training certificate and the loan form to fill, which was submitted to CBN-controlled NIRSAL Microfinance, about 90% of the applicants that were trained successfully have not yet receive the loan.They had interview with the microfinance bank for over 3 years but no news from either CBN or NIRSAL Microfinance till now. They paid N10,000 for feasibility study, N5000 for business plan to N10,000 for training, but all in vain. All these expenditure have almost entered voice mail now.

‘Finally, a stitch in time save nine. Let the CBN Boss/MD NIRSAL take note of this before it is too late. Money collected from the masses are for “Allah Ya isa”. They deserve to be considered for the loan disbursement or refund of money spend by the AGSMEIS loan applicants”, he added.

Contributions: African Security News