Top Bank CEOs, Management To Undergo Probe Over N1.27tn Intervention Funds

The Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and top bank management staff may be probed during the ongoing investigation of the activities of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under former Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

Naija News understands that some bank CEOs would be invited as the investigations by the Special Investigator, Jim Obazee, proceed over un-disbursed intervention funds.

According to a top official, who spoke with The PUNCH on the condition of anonymity, N1.27tn intervention funds sit in the accounts of five commercial banks.

This was based on an analysis of the half-year financial statements of Access Bank, Fidelity Bank, Guarantee Trust Bank, United Bank for Africa, and Zenith Bank.

The intervention funds cover lending facilities provided by the CBN through local banks, and the facilities include the Accelerated Agriculture Development Scheme, Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme, Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility, and Paddy Aggregation Scheme.

They also include the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Fund, the Real Sector Support Facility, the 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity, the Export Facilitation Initiative, and the Creative Industry Financing Initiative.

It was gathered that there was at least N530.07bn worth of intervention funds in Access Bank.

This included about N3.56bn under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme, N1.57bn to facilitate the rapid rollout of agent networks across Nigeria supporting the expansion of a shared Agent Network, N58.84bn under the salary bailout fund, N99.04bn outstanding balance on the excess crude account loans, N9.34bn for the Real Sector Support Facility, N1.14bn for the Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme.

It also included N955.61m for the Creative Industry Financing Initiative, N8.62bn for the Non-Oil Export Stimulation Facility, and N17.64bn for the Health Sector Intervention Facility, among others.

Also, it was learned that at least N310.52bn of the intervention funds sit in Fidelity Bank.

It included N80.65bn state bailout fund, N190.06bn Real Sector Support Facility – Differentiated Cash Reserves Requirement, N7.28bn Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme, N2.5bn Paddy Aggregation Scheme, and N6.36bn 100 for 100 PPP.

About N288.42bn of the intervention funds are in Zenith Bank, according to findings by The Punch.

It included N23.54bn Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme Loan, N1.86bn Power & Aviation Intervention Fund, N125.14bn salary bailout fund, N71.53bn Excess Crude Loan Facility, N28.73bn Real Sector Support Facility and N9.13bn Non-Oil Export Stimulation Facility.

Also, it was gathered that there was about N115.09bn in GT Bank and N25.16bn in UBA as of June 30, 2023.

As of October 2022, about N9tn had been released as intervention funds by the apex bank.

The bank had said that about N3.7tn had been repaid by beneficiaries while over N5tn was not yet due for recovery.

Major Beneficiary Of Intervention Funds

It was gathered that the agricultural sector has been the major beneficiary of the intervention funds, especially through the Anchor Borrower Fund and the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme.

About nine banks have at least N208.33bn undisbursed funds from the CBN for the Anchor Borrower Fund and the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme at low-interest rates.

According to the first half financial statements released to the Nigerian Exchange Limited, three of the banks, Guaranty Trust Holding Company, Wema Bank and Sterling Financial Holdings, had N114.10bn of the Anchor Borrowers Fund still in their coffers.

While seven banks, including GTCO, Wema Bank, Sterling Financial Holdings, United Bank for Africa, Access Holdings, Zenith Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and FCMB Group combined had N94.23bn of the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme funds in their books not disbursed as of the end of June.