Some senators are pushing for the Central Bank of Nigeria and the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank to waive the recovery of credit granted to Nigerians under the Targeted Credit Facility.

This was according to a statement shared with our correspondent on Friday.

The Targeted Credit Facility was a credit provided to Nigerians during the COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate the hardship suffered by individuals and businesses due to loss of income and income.

The CBN supervised the disbursement of the facility while NIRSAL MFB was the disbursing agent.

NIRSAL MFB was summoned to appear before the Senate ad hoc committee investigating the allegation of unequal disbursement of loans, grants and interventions in the six geopolitical regions.

Following the NIRSAL MFB presentation, Senator representing the Ondo Central Senate District, Ayo Akinyelure, noted that it appeared that NISRAL provided grant money to recipients.

He recommended that “since recovering this money will be difficult for NISRAL MFB, by the time it has been disbursed, let us request that CBN give them fresh funding so that they can give it to the people they can recover the money from.” .”

Akinyelure added: “The money, around N188bn out, is gone and we cannot wait until it is recovered before another fund can be disbursed. Countries like the United States gave their citizens free money about four times. So for this agency to meet its goals, fresh funds must be released to them.”

The senator also suggested that “creations like this (NIRSAL MFB) should try to differentiate themselves from the CBN, since the CBN stands as a regulator of the financial sector. And I don’t see why it will start working with micro and macro sectors of the economy. I don’t think it’s prudent for us.”

However, Akinyelure expressed concern about what NISRAL MFB is doing even though it has a national certificate, which he says conflicts with what commercial and development banks are doing.

In addition, he called for continued funding for NIRSAL MFB to give small business owners access to fast, affordable loans without stringent conditions.