After a whooping sum of over N1.2trillion in the power sector, electricity customers in Nigeria continued to live in perpetual darkness.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed this on Monday, March 21, 2022 while Briefing newsmen shortly after its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja.
CBN during the review of its interventions noted that it “disbursed ₦11.11 billion to power sector players, under the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Payment Assurance Facility (NBETPAF), bringing the cumulative disbursements under this facility to ₦1.28 trillion”.
The apex bank said, “the sum of ₦12.64 billion was also released to Distribution Companies (DisCos) under the Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility – Phase 2 (NEMSF-2). The cumulative disbursement under the NEMSF-2 thus stood at ₦232.93 billion.
“Both interventions were designed to improve access to capital and ease the development of enabling infrastructure in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry”.
Unfortunately, despite this huge amount, darkness continue to envelope the entire country with business owners relocating to neighbouring countries like: Cameroon, Benin Republic, Niger Republic, and Ghana.
CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele said, the Committee reviewed the performance of the Bank’s various interventions to stimulate productivity in manufacturing, industry, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, healthcare, and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
He said, between January and February 2022, the Bank disbursed N29.67 billion under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) for the procurement of inputs and cultivation of maize, rice, and wheat, three crops that hitherto were significant concerns of FX demand.
“These disbursements bring the total under the programme to over 4.52 million smallholder farmers, cultivating 21 commodities across the country, comes to a total of ₦975.61 billion.
“The Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) has also been restructured to effectively aggregate excess outputs from the Bank’s ABP-financed projects, with the objective of moderating food prices”, he said.
The CBN boss said, the Bank also released N19.15 billion to finance 5 large-scale agricultural projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS), bringing the total disbursements under the Scheme to ₦735.17 billion for 671 projects in agro-production and agroprocessing.
He said, in addition to these, the Bank disbursed the sum of ₦428.31 billion under the ₦1.0 trillion Real Sector Facility to 37 additional projects in the manufacturing, agriculture, and services sectors.
Emefiele said, the funds sourced from the Real Sector Support Facility – Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement (RSSF-DCRR), were utilized for both greenfield and brownfield (expansion) projects under the COVID-19 intervention for the Manufacturing Sector (CIMS). Cumulative disbursements under the Real Sector Facility currently stand at ₦1.75 trillion, disbursed to 368 projects across the country.
He said, under the 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity (PPP), the Bank has disbursed the sum of ₦29.51 billion to 31 projects, comprising 16 in manufacturing, 13 in agriculture, and 2 in healthcare.
He said, as part of its effort to support the resilience of the healthcare sector, the Bank also disbursed ₦8.50 billion to 6 healthcare projects under the Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF), bringing the cumulative disbursements to ₦116.72 billion for 124 projects, comprising of 31 pharmaceuticals, 56 hospitals, and 37 other services.
“An additional tranche of N14.7 million was disbursed to 5 researchers under the Healthcare Sector Research and Development (HSRD) Grant”, he said.
The MPC Chairman said, to support households and businesses affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Bank disbursed N21.66 billion to 19,685 beneficiaries, comprising 12,044 households and 7,641 small businesses under the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) within the period.
“The cumulative disbursements under the TCF stood at N390.45 billion to 797,351 beneficiaries, comprising 660,096 households and 137,255 small businesses”, he said.
