Rice Farmers: CBN Not Indebted to Our Members

The President of the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Mr. Aminu Goronyo, yesterday distanced its members from an “unfortunate” newspaper advertorial (not THISDAY), wherein a fictitious individual, who claimed to be a RIFAN contractor, alleged that he was being owed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the supply of agricultural inputs.

The RIFAN president said the sponsor of the open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari was unknown to the association and could not have been one of its members as he would have breached due process in the first instance by resorting to the media without first making a formal complaint to the leadership of the association.

Speaking at a press briefing on the issue, Goronyo said no member of RIFAN has reported any complaint bordering on CBN indebtedness.

According to him, “There was no single supplier of RIFAN that came to our office to complain on whether he has supplied and has not been paid. There is no single day that we can recall that somebody came here to complain.”

He said the publication must have been fabricated by those who wanted to reverse the gains already recorded by the CBN-backed Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP) which he said had ushered in a revolution in local rice production since 2015.

To buttress his point further, he noted that none of its 30 members-comprising 25 input suppliers and five service providers-had direct dealings with the apex bank, rather through the association, and wondered how the said contractor as an individual may have struck such a deal with the CBN.