Community decries delay in CBN loan scheme

Jasawa Community Development Association (JCDA) has decried the delay in accessing the Central Bank of Nigeria Agric-Business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) loan, saying it is frustrating small scale and businesses enterprises in Plateau State.

The Chairman of the Economic and Business Committee of the community, Alhaji Sani Bala Tanko, who stated this at the end of a stakeholder's meeting, said the delay was making them to lose confidence in the present administration's promises and policies to alleviate poverty in Nigeria.

He said CBN launched the scheme in 2017 but it was still yet to make any significant impact to SSBEs because they were yet to access the loans.

The chairman noted that the community submitted hundreds of particulars to the CBN through the Small and Medium

Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) two years ago but has not received any response from the agency which was later substituted with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agriculture Lending (NIRSAL) to handle the process.

"We submitted our files to SMEDAN which was then responsible for processing the loan and we were called for interview. Now, we have been told CBN has changed SMEDAN with NIRSAL but we are yet to receive any communication from NIRSAL.

“We don't know the stage of our files since the first agency has been changed. The situation has frustrated many of our members from the scheme for inconsistency," he said.

The chairman however appealed to the federal government to intervene and check the alleged malpractices and delays surrounding the scheme and quicken the process for the benefit of small-scale businesses in Nigeria.