Anchor Borrowers Subscribers Accuse Ogun Govt, WEMA Bank Of Fraud, Illegal Deductions
A group of farmers who were beneficiaries of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) in Ogun State, have come up with allegations against the State Government and WEMA Bank, alleging that the bank has been illegally deducting money from their accounts, despite the programme being suspended five years ago.
The ABP, launched by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2015, aimed to support small holder farmers by linking them with financial institutions for loan disbursement.
According to the farmers, each of the subscribers was credited with the sum between N210,000 and N220 at the beginning of the programme but the money was reversed shortly after they were credited.
To their surprise, they stressed that later in 2020, they didn’t hear anything about the programme again and the Ogun state government assured them that they would not be required to repay any loans since they did not receive any money.
The farmers said despite this assurance, they recently discovered that WEMA Bank had been deducting money from their accounts, using their Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs).
In a peaceful demonstration led by Kolade Ogunsina in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital on Thursday, the farmers lamented that the deductions, which started on March 20, have been ongoing, with some farmers losing up to N5 million, some N1 Million, while some have experienced a debit of N500,000.
“We have some of us whose accounts were debited to the tune of one million, some five million naira which are way over the amount we were credited with. When we visited Wema back, the person in charge of Agric Finance made us realise that the money that was debited from the account did not get back to the source
“The money was not debited at once, they debited it on a daily basis. Starting from March 20 and they have not stopped debiting the account, if any money should enter our account now, it will be debited.
“When we approached WEMA bank, they were just playing us around, asking us to go to the Ministry of Agriculture and OGADEP and OGADEP said we should go back to WEMA. The Ministry of Agriculture told us the same thing.
The farmers are demanding answers about the whereabouts of the N2 billion allocated for the ABP.
They are also calling on WEMA Bank to stop the illegal deductions, which they claim have caused them significant financial hardship.
When contacted the Commission for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Bolu Owotomo, insisted that it is not possible for the Ministry to deduct money from beneficiaries’ accounts since it’s not a financial institution.
Owotomo, who noted that the Ministry had received the same complaint, stated that the state government under the leadership of Governor Dapo Abiodun will continue to be responsive to beneficiaries’ complaints as they arise.
He however stressed that the CBN has been contacted over the development, assuring that there will be positive change soon.
His words “The anchor borrower’s program was initiated before I came on board as the Commissioner for Agriculture. Nonetheless, as a responsible government, we have continued to be responsive to the beneficiaries’ complaints as they arise.
“Please let it be on record that the Ministry is not a financial institution and so can never make deductions from beneficiaries’ accounts. We have also received this same complaint in the past week, which we have taken steps to rectify.
“The participating financial institution and CBN have been contacted, and they are looking into it. Hopefully, we shall see a positive change in the coming weeks.”
