Xola Collective: CBN has changed the narrative in Nigeria’s agricultural landscape

Xola Collective, a not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank organisation, has commended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for its intervention programmes.

The group said in a statement issued over the weekend.

The statement added that policies and interventions have consistently contributed to the country’s agricultural landscape, thereby changing its narrative.

The think-tank group listed the first-ever rain-fed wheat programme, anchor borrowers’ programme, tertiary institutions entrepreneurship scheme (TIES) as some of the apex bank’s policies.

It also listed the following interventions:

AGRICULTURE

Earlier in 2021, the CBN flagged off the first-ever rain-fed wheat programme in the country, seeking to slash the importation of the food commodity by 60 percent as well as save $2 billion annually in foreign exchange. According to the CBN, the programme will benefit over 150,000 farmers and would be implemented in 15 states of the federation for a start.

The CBN has also set aside over N5.7 billion loan to 10,000 farmers to encourage dry season wheat farming in Bauchi State, with 4,500 farmers benefited so far in the state.

Between September and October 2021, under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, the bank disbursed N43.19 billion to support the cultivation of 250,000 hectares of maize, sorghum, soybeans, and rice during the 2021 dry season farming and N5.88 billion to finance six large scale agricultural projects under the commercial agricultural agri-business scheme.

OTHER INTERVENTIONS

As a way of tackling the problem of growing youth unemployment in Nigeria, the CBN recently launched the Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES) in Abuja.

The apex bank also presented cheques of N5 million each to six pioneer beneficiaries of the scheme to help boost their businesses, create employment and contribute to economic growth.

The bank said the scheme was designed to create a paradigm shift among students and graduates of tertiary institutions in Nigeria from white-collar jobs towards entrepreneurship development.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it will offer special funding and other strategic support to about 400 selected strategic manufacturing enterprises in the next one year under the new real sector intervention scheme.

The bank disbursed N261.92 billion for 42 additional projects under the N1 trillion manufacturing intervention. Cumulatively, the bank has disbursed the sum of N1.08 trillion under this scheme. As part of its effort to support the resilience of the healthcare sector, the bank disbursed N5.39 billion to nine healthcare projects under the Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF). Cumulatively, the bank disbursed N108.65 billion to hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry. 54 of the 117 projects funded were for hospital services. Had CBN remained aloof and mute in the trying times of last year and 2021, the economy would have collapsed under the weight of COVID-19 devastation.

Through the Economic Sustainability Plan, the CBN working with the fiscal authorities injected N3.5trn to support households in Nigeria, to navigate the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic. This was 4.1% of the nation’s GDP and focused on agric, manufacturing, and healthcare amongst others.

Stakeholders believe that the apex bank’s 37 purpose-driven intervention programmes introduced will continue to boost the nation’s economy.
For CBN, efforts to sustain economic growth are unending. The bank said it will sustain its intervention policy in critical sectors in 2022.