By Femi Akinola
Following Chancellors Farms Nigeria Limited failure to pay back a N213 million bank loan, the Federal High Court in Kaduna, Northwest Nigeria, has ordered that the farm’s 1,150 metric tonnes capacity for rice paddy warehouse be sold.
The order was granted in a motion ex-parte marked FHC/ABJ/CS/401/2024 and filed by the Jaiz Bank Plc against the agriculture farm.
At the resumed proceedings, the bank’s lawyer urged Justice Inyang Ekwo to grant his first and third request in the interest of justice while he withdrew prayer two. The judge agreed with the bank’s lawyer and gave ruling in favour of the plaintiff.
Checks on why the agric firm warehouse was ordered to be sold by the court revealed that on about October 18, 2021, the agric firm applied for a credit finance, for sale of goods under Murabaha Finance from Jaiz Bank Plc, for the sum of N180 million, for the purchase of layers (point of lay), feeds, drugs, generator, fan expellers and chicken cage for 25,000 birds.
The bank considered the application for the agric firm and granted the same on November 3, 2021, for one-and-half years.
Similarly, sometimes in January 2022, the agric firm again applied for another finance facility, warehousing under Murabaha Finance from Jiz Bank Plc, for the sum of N195 million.
The debt balance against the agric firm as of February 2024, stood in the sum of N213, 400,000 being the outstnding principal facilities when Jaiz Bank appointed a receiver over the charged asset.
The Receiver, I.E. Yakubu Inuwa, officially known as Dr. Yakubu Fabour Esq, sought three orders, the first which was to take immediate possession, management and sale of the 1, 150 metric tons of paddy wire house at the premises of KD Waters Limited, Mando Light Industrial Area, Kaduna, Kaduna State. After hearing Yakubu Fabour’s Counsel for the applicant move regarding the motion paper, the prayer of the applicant was granted.
Jaiz Bank is Nigeria’s pioneer non-interest bank. However, under its Murabaha Finance loan arrangement, customer can acquire building materials, consumable goods and real estate with the flexibility of a monthly payment loan.