The Senate has put on hold a motion seeking the probe into the root causes of food scarcity in the country despite the federal government’s huge financial commitment to the Anchor Borrowers Programme.
The upper chamber also halted the request for a similar probe into the circumstances surrounding the invalid $2.4 billion transfer of the nation’s foreign exchange backlog liabilities.
The Senate directed a rephrasing and resubmission of the motion without giving details. The decision followed a hushed conversation among the sponsor of the motion, Osita Izunaso, and a few senators with the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, after the proceeding broke into a rowdy session.
Mr Izunazo, the senator representing Imo West, had earlier the motion during the plenary on Wednesday.
The Anchor Borrowers Programme was introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The initiative intended to link small-scale farmers with reputable companies involved in the production and processing of key agricultural commodities.
It was to assist small-scale farmers with loans to set up their farms. The benefiting farmers were expected to repay their loans with produce to an anchor, who pays the cash equivalent to the farmer’s account.
In the 2022 financial report published last August, the CBN disclosed that it loaned a total of N629 billion to farmers to assist agricultural production in the country.
Mr Izunaso, while presenting his motion, expressed concerns that despite the huge funds allocated to the scheme, many Nigerians are still struggling to feed themselves and the cost of farm produce is unbearable to farmers.
The senator said he was worried by the fact that the lending programme ought to have created massive jobs for Nigerians, but that many are still unemployed and the cost of living has worsened.
He expressed concerns that Nigerians no longer believed in the Anchors Borrowers Programme as a remedy to the development of the country’s agricultural productivity.
Mr Izunaso, therefore, asked the Senate to mandate its Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions to conduct a holistic investigation into issues surrounding the Anchors Borrowers Programme.
He also prayed that the committee would report their findings back to the Senate within four weeks.
Responding to the motion, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said the upper chamber would invite t the Governor of the CBN, Olayemi Cardoso, to a closed-door session where the Anchor Borrowers Programme and other financial issues would be discussed.
“It is not what they say. Have they told the Senate?
“We resolved yesterday that we are going to invite the CBN governor to a closed session with us, arising from the security discussions and these are issues you can put before him,” Mr Akapbio said.
Rowdy session
The Senate chamber went rowdy immediately after the Senate president made the remarks. Many of the senators, including the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, and the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, walked to the seat of the senate president to whisper in his ear.
After a few minutes, Mr Izunaso, who moved the motion, also joined his senator colleagues who were whispering in Mr Akpabio’s ear.
While the drama was ongoing between the senators and their presiding officer, other senators were discussing among themselves wondering why the senate president made such a remark.
After a back-and-forth which lasted for about 25 minutes, Mr Akpabio announced that after his discussion with the mover of the motion and his senator colleagues, it was resolved that the motion be stepped down.
Call for rephrasing
The Senate president thereafter directed that the motion should be rephrased and represented to the Senate for consideration.
“We have also noted the issue of the Anchors Borrowers Programme which actually was started in 2015, and we believe the programme was not well-managed and a lot of people are complaining and the Nigerian public will also want to know more about the anchor borrowers programme and the expenses incurred and the kind of results that were achieved if any.
“So, having looked at most of the very beautiful aspects of this motion, personally and a majority of my colleagues are of the view that this motion should be withdrawn now and rephrased and represented so that the public will know what we are investigating,” he said
$2.4 billion invalid foreign exchange backlog
In the motion, Mr Izunaso also expressed concern that the huge forex backlog and the inability of the CBN to meet forex obligations have made many investors lose confidence in the forex market.
He also raised concern that some commercial banks have accumulated substantial holdings of foreign currencies for their own account.
The Senator said he is worried that financial institutions were involved in the processing of the invalid foreign exchange backlog.
Mr Izunaso therefore prayed to the Senate to mandate its committee on banking to conduct a holistic investigation into the circumstances surrounding the foreign exchange backlog, particularly the invalid $2.4 billion
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