By Aideloje Ojo
Minna
The inability of the Niger Foods Company to recover the N3.7bn loan it granted Shikafa Cluster Farmers in Niger state during the 2024 farming season has resulted in the arraignment of farmers guarantor, Mallam Idris Usman Makanta.
Niger Foods Company had said in a statement in Minna that it only recovered N25 million, representing just 0.74% of the total N3.4 billion despite the guarantor’s written commitment to complete repayment.
According to the statement, the company’s Chairman, Mr. Sammy Adigun, debunked claims suggesting that the matter is politically motivated
He clarified that the matter originates from a breach of agreement under the Niger Foods Input Financing Program, a scheme designed to support genuine smallholder farmers across Niger State through transparent and bank-verified input financing.
He said, “all farms were mapped, coordinates recorded, and three critical documents were duly signed by Makanta, a Farming Framework Agreement, a Global Standing Instruction (GSI), and a Letter of Guarantee in which he personally undertook to ensure 100% recovery in case of default”, adding that the guarantor is contractually responsible for ensuring compliance.
Makanta was first arraigned Chief Magistrate Court 1 on the November 3, 2025 by the police on First Information Report (FIR), marked MN/CR/CMC/55/2025 and was granted bail. He was however re – arrested soon after and detained before he was re-arraigned on Monday at the same court by police prosecutor ASP Emmanuel Ochayi who sought to substitute the earlier FIR with a fresh one
The defense counsel, Mohammed Tsado Esq Mohammed objected to re-arraining the defendant in court on a fresh First Information Report FIR arguing that the defendant was granted bail after his earlier arraignment on the 3rd of November, 2025, adding that “after perfecting the bail conditions the same police came back to re-arrest him. Therefore we filed contempt of court proceedings against the Commissioner of Police at the Federal High Court”.
The Chief Magistrate Murtala Mohammed Ibrahim refused to mention the fresh FIR and also declined jurisdiction over the matter directing the prosecutor to take the case to Federal or State High Court within 24 hours.
