The Presidency has given marching orders to relevant security agencies in the country to recover loans from the Federal Government Anchor Borrowers N1.1 trillion programme, amounting to over N500 billion.
The security agencies, it was gathered, have up till September 18, 2023, to recover all the monies said to be owed by mostly bankers, farmers, individuals, State governments and other financial institutions among others.
Apart from recovering the monies, the agencies have also been directed to probe the borrowers. According to security sources, the recovery of the huge amount has become necessary to enable the government to shore up funds in the face of the harsh economic challenges in the country.
Top security sources told newsmen that out of N1.1 trillion of funds sunk into the programme, only about N575 billion have been recovered so far.
It was gathered that while the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), doles out a total of N1.1 trillion to some banks and other financial institutions, some of them did not only disburse the actual amount to the beneficiaries and refused to return the money to the CBN.
Some of the banks were also said to have disbursed lesser amount to the beneficiaries and pocketed the remaining. The source further disclosed that many of the banks failed to account for the funds which passed through them to various beneficiaries of the loan.
The source, who said the security agencies have since contacted the affected banks, financial institutions and cooperatives, said< “Most of the banks have not accounted for the funds given to them for the programme. Many of them got money they did not disburse and never returned such money to the Government. So, they have to account for those”.
When contacted on whether or not the Department of State Service, (DSS), was part of the security agencies involved in the recovery of the money, the agency’s public relations officer, Peter Afunanya, who did not confirm the service involvement however said it is not out of place for the Presidency to give such orders to security agencies on issues of national importance.
