Cameroon dam opening: 700 billion naira loan to CBN farmers threatened in flooded states

• Floods in 204 communities in Niger, 17 displaced, panic in Benue, Anambra

As floods hit some frontline states following the opening of Cameroon's Lagdo Dam by authorities, an estimated 3.04 million Nigerian farmers could struggle to repay more than N700 billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria's Anchor Borrowing Scheme loan, according to The PUNCH findings.

The opening of the dam is expected to affect 13 frontline states, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.

Already water levels have risen in some states including Benue and Anambra, while Niger is already experiencing flooding.

Results of analysis conducted by The PUNCH showed that farmers in the states are at risk of flooding.

Some farmers who spoke with The PUNCH said the development could make it difficult for their primary borrower to repay their loan.

Floods

In addition to the dam opening in Cameroon, NEMA previously said about 56 communities in 19 states across the country could experience heavy rains in August.

NEMA Lagos Territorial Coordinator Ibrahim Farinloye made this known in a statement while providing an update on the downpours which are likely to cause flooding in August.

In addition, the federal government said on Tuesday that it opposed the opening of the Lagdo dam in Cameroon by the authorities of the neighboring country without informing the Nigerian government.

The Director General of the Hydrological Services Agency of Nigeria – an agency of the Federal Government, Clement Nze, who revealed this to reporters, explained that in Nigeria, the month of June of every year

When asked if the federal government had registered its grievance over Cameroon's opening of the Lagdo dam without informing Nigeria, the NIHSA boss replied: "Of course yes. , it was expected that Nigeria was not happy with the fact that Cameroon opened their roadblock without informing Nigeria.

"It happened in 2012, although they informed Nigeria about it, but due to the pressure on the dam that year, they had to open it before the scheduled date, in order to relieve the dam of any violation.

“In 2019, they opened the dam from October 10 to 31 without informing Nigeria and there was a flood. So now we know that whenever there is a flood of a certain magnitude, we start to wonder.

“The same thing happened in 2022 and then again in 2023 after we learned that Cameroon had opened the dam. I contacted them, which is when they had to confirm to us in writing that they had opened it on August 14, 2023.”

Asked whether Nigeria expressed concern about this and whether it also contributed to the Cameroonian authorities' decision to close the dam, Nze replied, "Yes, as I I mentioned earlier, what we have in both countries is a memorandum of understanding that doesn't give you the power to do anything if the other party violates certain terms.

“Although in the memorandum of understanding, there is no section that says that Cameroon must inform us before discharging water. But based on professional collaboration between my agency and relevant agencies in Cameroon, they are supposed to inform us. »

CBN Data

Data obtained from the CBN showed that at least 1.25 million farmers in the 19 states received a total of N289.19 billion in December 2022.

The data showed that out of the 19 states, Sokoto got the highest (49.25 billion naira from 179,914 farmers), followed by Jigawa (48.14 billion naira from 175,685 farmers) and Zamfara (34.46 billion naira for 115,894 farmers). ).

Others include Taraba (31.1 billion naira for 154,407 farmers) and Adamawa (30.69 billion naira for 317,513 farmers).

The lowest loan was received by Lagos (483 million naira for 2,460 farmers), Imo (1.07 billion naira for 4,415.81 farmers), Osun (1.26 billion naira for 4,621 farmers), Anambra (1.43 billion naira for 6,647 farmers). ) and Abia (2.67 billion Naira for 8,152 farmers).

PUNCH has learned that a total of N411.49 billion loaned to 1.79 million farmers across the eight states may struggle to make their repayments due to insecurity caused by bandits.

Of the eight states, Kaduna got the highest loan (139.94 billion naira for 510,664 farmers), followed by Niger (61.75 billion naira for 287,044 farmers) and Kano (58.18 billion naira for 322,452 farmers).

The lowest loan was received by Plateau (8.49 billion naira for 34,103 farmers), Yobe (21.55 billion naira for 94,372 farmers) and Borno (36, 48 billion naira for 177,752 farmers).

The CBN said earlier that it had disbursed N12.65 billion to farmers under its Key Borrowers Program in the first two months of 2023.

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