CBN grants N1.24bn agric loans in 60 days

The Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) says it granted N1.244 billion in loans for agricultural growth across the country in May and June 2016.

In the reports of activities under the agricultural credit guarantee scheme, the apex bank said it gave a credit facility of N561.8 million in May and another N683.1 million in June 2016.

In May, CBN extended the loan facility to 3,741  businesses across 24 states of the federation.

In June, however, the tally was raised to 4,774 businesses across 28 states, with both facilities excluding Cross River, Bauchi, Jigawa, Lagos, Sokoto and Yobe states.

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, had repeatedly expressed the commitment of the bank to supporting the real sector of the economy, including agriculture, mining and manufacturing.

“We are confronted, as a nation, with a wide range of development challenges especially with the dwindling global crude oil prices and the nation’s dependence on it as its major source of revenue,” he had said at a workshop on agricultural innovation.

“There is the need to diversify the mono-cultural tendencies of the economy by developing other sectors of the economy especially agriculture.”

Emefiele had also approved the appointment of substantive managing director and executive director (technical) for the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) in December 2015.