Business and Economy
Frustration as CBN Initiates Loan Recovery for COVID-19 Relief Funds
By Iyojo Ameh
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is taking steps to reclaim funds disbursed to specific categories of Nigerians through the Targeted Credit Facilities (TCF) program in 2020. This initiative aimed to mitigate the financial hardships caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
This move have generated concerns among beneficiaries regarding the loan recovery process with scores of beneficiaries expressing some levels of frustration as they discovered that the loans they received, such as the N500,000 COVID-19 relief loan, were no longer exempt from repayment.
Few beneficiaries complained that monies in their bank account was removed by the CBN as part of the loan recovery drive.
NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB), responsible for disbursing these loans on behalf of CBN, recently issued calls for the repayment of COVID-19 relief loans extended to households and business operators across Nigeria.
The TCF program, introduced by CBN in March 2020, was allocated N50 billion to support households and Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) severely affected by the pandemic. These loans carried an initial interest rate of five percent, with a moratorium period that ended on February 28, 2021. Following the moratorium, the interest rate reverted to nine percent from March 1, 2021.
NMFB urged beneficiaries to take steps to repay the loans, emphasizing that they were not provided as grants. Beneficiaries are encouraged to visit the nearest NIRSAL branch to obtain a loan repayment schedule and ensure that their loan accounts remain funded.
As the CBN seeks to recover these loans, it remains a topic of concern among recipients who initially believed the funds would not require repayment.