A storm is brewing over the Central Bank of Nigeria’s flagship agricultural scheme, the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), as new revelations expose widespread fraud, diversion of public funds, and deliberate sabotage of Nigeria’s food security efforts.
Truth Live News gathered that, Bashir Ahmad, a former media aide to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, has sounded the alarm on what he described as “shocking and disgraceful” misuse of funds by beneficiaries of the multi-billion-naira programme.
In a social media exchange that has since gone viral, Ahmad revealed that rather than channeling the loans into agriculture, many recipients diverted the money into lucrative non-agricultural sectors, ranging from oil and gas, to currency trading (bureau de change), and even luxury businesses.
“Some individuals received as much as ₦6 billion intended for agriculture and poverty alleviation. They shamelessly diverted it into completely unrelated ventures. This is not just corruption, it’s economic treason,” Ahmad declared.
His comments were made in reaction to a post by Yakubu Wudil, who had criticised the Tinubu administration’s food import waiver policy. Wudil argued that a better approach would involve empowering local farmers with subsidized fertilizer, fuel, and mechanized tools. Ahmad, however, used the opportunity to lay bare the rot that undermined the previous government’s own agricultural agenda.
He lamented that not only were loans diverted, but that even those who did engage in farming later hoarded their harvests, deliberately creating artificial scarcity and driving up food prices in the local markets.
“They prioritized profits over national interest. They hoarded essential crops waiting for market prices to rise. That singular act alone sabotaged food security, making life harder for millions of Nigerians,” Ahmad added.
The ABP was launched in 2015 by the Central Bank under the Buhari administration, with lofty promises of linking smallholder farmers to anchor processors, improving food output, and reducing Nigeria’s overreliance on food imports. As of 2023, the CBN had disbursed a staggering ₦1.09 trillion under the scheme, reaching over 4.8 million farmers, many of whom are now under scrutiny.
Despite the scale of investment, the country today grapples with worsening food inflation, recurring food shortages, and a dependency on food imports, raising serious questions about the effectiveness and integrity of the ABP’s implementation.
Analysts say the latest revelations could trigger a wave of investigations, possibly leading to arrests and prosecutions. But critics argue that successive governments have lacked the political will to hold economic saboteurs accountable, especially when such individuals have deep political or elite connections.
“There must be consequences,” said Dr. Ibrahim Musa, an agricultural economist based in Zaria. “If we don’t go after the big names who mismanaged and looted funds under ABP, then the message to Nigerians is simple: grand theft pays.”
The implications are dire. With the agricultural sector already under strain due to insecurity, climate shocks, and rising production costs, the abuse of ABP funds represents a critical failure that may take years to recover from.
As the Tinubu administration struggles to stabilize food prices and restore confidence in government-led interventions, the ABP scandal could become a defining test of its anti-corruption and economic reform agenda.
Will the government launch a full-scale probe? Will beneficiaries be named and shamed? Or will this follow the familiar pattern of forgotten scandals, with no accountability in sight?
What’s certain is this: the ABP, once hailed as a transformative programme to lift millions out of poverty, now risks being remembered as one of the largest, most brazen mismanagement episodes in Nigeria’s recent economic history.
“This is not just about failed loans. It’s about failed trust,” Ahmad concluded. “The nation deserves answers and justice.”