On a Monday morning in July, Usman Muhammad was in a magistrate courtroom adjusting and readjusting his belt as he waited for a judge to deliver his prison sentence in Birnin-Kebbi, the capital of Kebbi State.
Mr Muhammad was one of the over 70,000 beneficiaries of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) in the state. But, according to prosecutors, he failed to repay the loan he collected six years ago. The ABP guidelines stipulate that upon harvest, benefiting farmers are to repay their loans with produce (which must cover the loan principal and interest) to an anchor, who pays the cash equivalent to the farmer’s account.
Mr Muhammad said his failure to repay the loan was not deliberate. “I didn’t make any profit. Everything went away as a result of the devastating flood,” he told PREMIUM TIMES. Mr Muhammad was not sent to jail that day as he had expected, thanks to his uncle who paid a part of the loan and promised to make full repayments afterwards.
Thousands of…