Maritime BusinessNews Maritime, finance experts advocate disbursement of Anchor Borrowers funds through cooperatives By maritimemag April 8, 2019 ShareTweet 0 Experts in maritime and finance sectors of the Nigerian economy have called on the Federal Government to disburse Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) funds through cooperatives to beneficiaries to make the funds easily recouped. This is coming after the government has not been able to recoup the first disbursement five years after they were released to beneficiaries. Some of the beneficiaries reportedly did not refund the money because they saw the funds as national cake which they deemed unnecessary to refund. As a result, Maritime and finance experts at an event in Lagos, advocated that the funds be released to beneficiaries through cooperatives and associations so that government would be able to recoup the funds and also extend the opportunity to other beneficiaries. Otunba Kunle Folarin while speaking on the programme which has reportedly created 2.5 million jobs across the country; admonished the government to disburse the money through cooperatives. “ABP has been suspended because the government has been unable to recover 10% of the monies given out in some states after five years. “These people saw the money as national cake. However, the money could be easily recouped if it is disbursed through cooperatives such as farmers associations” he added. On his part, the CEO, Kings Communications Limited, Mr. Kingsley Anaroke stressed that Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in the country had been limited by the frequent policy changes and the lack of confidence in the government. “There are several people abroad who have shown interest in investing in Nigeria or finance one project or the other, however, the government policies keep discouraging them. “I have made efforts to bring in some Koreans to finance a project but they came in and the problem was the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) model” he said. Anaroke lamented that ICRC copied the PPP model from foreign countries but have refused to rejig it to suit the peculiarities in Nigeria. “There was a time I was able to get investors ready to fix the Tin Can Port access roads and toll the road. The government hasn’t fixed the road because of paucity of funds as it hasn’t been factored in the nation’s budget in the last three years. I asked one of the Directors in the Ministry of Works if I could bring in partners to fix the road and collect tolls. The people were ready to construct the road to the best standards; invest and get their money back over a period of time. The Ministry declined that proposal because someone has to make some percentage when it eventually gets budgetary allocation” he revealed. Earlier, the moderator, Mr. Biodun Eromosele said that CBN had struggled to align the fiscal aspect of the economy to the availability of funds, lamenting that the government had N2 trillion deficit. Eromosele posited that the oil sector which is a major driver of the Nigerian economy would continue to witness upward and downward swing because of the vagaries of the international oil market. He stressed that the post-election economy for Nigeria was also clouded in uncertainty as the major opposition party was in court and they believe they have enough evidence to unseat the current government. “An investor may not be willing to invest in an economy that isn’t stable as a result of the fact the major opposition is in court. That uncertainty may remain until the issue is sorted out in the courts” he said. © 2019, maritimemag. All rights reserved.
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