Nasarawa, Edo, Ogun Get Lion Share Of N5.48bn Agric Loans

Nasarawa, Edo and Ogun states received the highest amount of loans for agriculture among the 36 states in the country and the Federal Capital Territory under the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme of the Federal Government.
Latest figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria also showed that the three states made the highest amount of loan repayments under the scheme, as a total of N5.48bn was fully repaid by the 36 states and the FCT in 2018.
The CBN, in its most recent annual report on ACGS activities for 2018, outlined loans that were fully repaid by states and the amount paid by each state from January to December 2018.
An analysis of figures released by the apex bank showed that Nasarawa, Edo and Ogun were the three leading states with the highest amount of fully repaid loans during the period under review.
It was observed that Nasarawa repaid N519.63m during the period, while Edo and Ogun repaid N481m and N407.06m, respectively.
Other states that made substantial full repayments on the CBN list include Bauchi, N349.1m; Benue, N303.44m; Sokoto, N264.61m; Ondo, N255.78m; Kebbi, N246.2m; Osun, N213.9m; and Anambra, N200m.
Bayelsa made the least full loan repayment of N800,000, as others that made smaller repayments on the list were Jigawa, N4.85m; Plateau, N9.27m; Cross River, N12.66m; Zamfara, N23.21m; Kogi, N25.92m; and Adamawa, N33m.
Further findings from the recent ACGS report, however, showed that Sokoto, Kwara and Bauchi emerged as states with the highest number of fully repaid loans during the period under review.
The number of fully repaid loans by the three states were 1,987; 1,906; and 1,823; while they repaid N264.61m; N199.11m; and N349.1m, respectively.
Our correspondent observed that although Sokoto, Kwara and Bauchi states had the highest number of fully repaid loans, the amount they repaid were lower than repayments of Nasarawa, Edo and Ogun.