The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives has
\napplauded NIRSAL\u2019s MD\/CEO, Aliyu Abdulhameed for his efforts to position
\nthe risk-management agency as a major driver of agricultural development
\nin Nigeria.<\/p>\n
The commendation came during an engagement with NIRSAL\u2019s Management to
\nclarify and share ideas on NIRSAL\u2019s mandate, track record and
\naccomplishments.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Committee, Honourable Oluwole Oke, expressed his
\nsatisfaction with the performance of NIRSAL\u2019s Managing Director, adding
\nthat NIRSAL had now found a friend in the form of the National Assembly.<\/p>\n
Other committee members described Abdulhameed as a round peg in a round
\nhole and a man of undoubted capacity. They also congratulated NIRSAL for
\nits commendable performance in terms of agribusiness financing, noting
\nthat other agencies should learn from NIRSAL\u2019s rigorous processes of due
\ndiligence.<\/p>\n
In his remarks to the Committee, Abdulhameed gave members an in-depth
\nanalysis context and rationale that informed the creation of NIRSAL, the
\nCorporation\u2019s mandate and transformative achievements in Nigeria\u2019s
\nagribusiness space.<\/p>\n
He explained that prior to the creation of NIRSAL, financiers were
\naverse to lending to agriculture, citing perceived high risks in the
\nsector, especially in the upstream segment of the agricultural value
\nchain where primary production takes place, often referred to as the
\n\u201cblack hole\u201d in agriculture.<\/p>\n
In response to these concerns and as part of efforts to diversify
\nNigeria\u2019s economy from crude oil-dependence, the CBN formulated NIRSAL
\nto catalyse the flow of much-needed financing into Agriculture by
\nredefining, measuring, re-pricing and sharing agribusiness-related
\ncredit risk with financiers.<\/p>\n
Abdulhameed noted that the CBN, in its foresight, established NIRSAL as
\na Public Liability Company registered under the Companies and Allied
\nMatters Act. This gave financial institutions more confidence and ease
\nto do business with NIRSAL as opposed to the limited transactions they
\ncould enter into with public sector institutions and the legal
\ncomplexities therein.<\/p>\n
In terms of NIRSAL\u2019s mandate, Abdulhameed informed the Committee that
\nthe agency is built on five broad pillars of Risk Sharing, Insurance,
\nTechnical Assistance, Incentives and Rating.\u00a0 These strategic pillars
\nare geared towards increasing bank lending to the agricultural sector by
\nover 6% in the short to medium term, hence, bridging the gap between the
\nfinance and agricultural sectors.<\/p>\n
Principally, NIRSAL is facilitating finance to agriculture through its
\nCredit Risk Guarantee (CRG). Through the CRG, NIRSAL shares either 30%,
\n50%, or 75% of
\nagribusiness-related risk with financiers depending on the agricultural
\nvalue chain segment receiving finance.<\/p>\n
Through the NIRSAL CRG, NIRSAL has attracted investment into
\nagribusiness and guaranteed 697 agribusiness loans worth
\nUSD505.9Million, paid NGN1.274Billion Interest Draw Back to 271
\nobligors, creating over 400,000 direct jobs and impacting over 2,000,000
\nlives in the process.<\/p>\n
In terms of insurance, NIRSAL has developed and launched the Area Yield
\nIndex Insurance (AYII) product and protected up to NGN6.47Billion in
\nrevenues of 35,492 farmers over 37,399 hectares of land with
\nNGN122Million paid out in compensation to farmers.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Abdulhameed pointed out that NIRSAL has facilitated the
\ngranting of licenses to five insurance companies by the Nigerian
\nAgricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) to underwrite index-based
\nAgricultural insurance.<\/p>\n
Leveraging on its Technical Assistance pillar, NIRSAL builds the
\ncapacity of financiers and agricultural value chain operators on
\nagricultural lending and Good Agronomic Practices (GAP) respectively.
\nAccordingly, NIRSAL has trained 1,221 middle Management and Agric Desk
\nOfficers of commercial banks and provided training on GAP to 700,000
\nfarmers and 74 Extension Workers.<\/p>\n
Continentally, NIRSAL has overseen the establishment of Risk Sharing
\nFacility (RSF) models for African Countries under the aegis of the
\nAfrican Development Bank (AfDB), and recently, concluded the setup of
\nthe Togo Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending
\n(TIRSAL), known locally as M\u00e9canisme Incitatif de Financement Agricole
\nFond\u00e9 sur le Partage de Risques (MIFA).<\/p>\n
Other African countries have also sought NIRSAL\u2019s guidance on how to set
\nup similar agribusiness risk-sharing sharing models. They include Ghana
\nand Benin among others.<\/p>\n
The committee has also tasked NIRSAL on tackling the issue of
\npostharvest losses by strengthening commodity exchange systems in which
\nfarmers can trade their commodities round-the-clock.<\/p>\n
Coincidentally, NIRSAL recently partnered with Wema bank and Cellulant
\nfor the development and deployment of a commodity financing model
\ndesigned to link smallholder farmers in the upstream segment of the
\nvalue chain to community-based produce aggregators, and commodity buyers
\nservicing the downstream segment.<\/p>\n
Based on the success of the deliberation, the Committee has recommended
\na workshop whereby NIRSAL will enlighten both the Senate and House of
\nRepresentatives who will, in turn, educate their constituents, and by
\nextension, all Nigerians, on NIRSAL\u2019s operations for smallholder farmers
\ncontinued benefit and poverty alleviation.<\/p>\n
The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives has applauded NIRSAL\u2019s MD\/CEO, Aliyu Abdulhameed for his efforts to position the risk-management agency as a major driver of agricultural development…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n