Protesters at the offices of the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing
\nSystem For Agricultural Lending NIRSAL, have been exposed as paid agents
\nwho were recruited from Abuja by corrupt interests fighting against the
\nsuccessful agricultural reforms by the President Mohammad Buhari\u2019s
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
Some individuals have been staging protest outside NIRSAL’s offices in
\nAbuja.<\/p>\n
They carried placards inscribed with unsubstantiated and allegations
\nagainst NIRSAL, NIRSAL’s Managing Director and the Central Bank of
\nNigeria.<\/p>\n
The colourful flyers and placards accused NIRSAL and the CBN’s Anchor
\nBorrowers Programme of “diverting farmers money” and “killing farmers” \u2013
\na totally baseless claim.<\/p>\n
The messages on the placards and flyers included: ANCHOR BORROWERS IS
\nPROGRAM IS A LIE, CBN NIRSAL IS DIVERTING FARMERS MONEY.<\/p>\n
However, when they were engaged by NIRSAL staff, some of the protesters
\nwho looked dirty and unkempt and spoke in Hausa language revealed that
\nthey knew nothing about NIRSAL’s operations and admitted that were
\nsponsored to protest against NIRSAL.<\/p>\n
They also admitted that they have no information about NIRSAL’s
\noperations, the Anchor Borrowers Programme and the Central Bank.<\/p>\n
According to them, they were at NIRSAL to do a job they were paid for by
\ntheir sponsor(s) who got them a police permit.<\/p>\n
Reacting to the incident, NIRSAL’s Head of Corporate Communications,
\nAnne Ihugba described the sponsored protest as a failed attempt to
\ndistort the facts about verified contributions of NIRSAL such as over
\nN100 billion facilitated from the financial sector into the agricultural
\nsector which is improving the lives of farmers across the country.<\/p>\n
She added:\u00a0“Though NIRSAL found the inauspicious visit as an opportunity
\nto engage and enlighten more young people on its agribusiness
\ninitiatives and the promise they hold, the protest smacked of
\nwitch-hunting and a well-crafted agenda to smear the organization.
\nQuestioned individually, the boys admitted to belonging to no ABP
\ntickets and were in fact recruited from Abuja and environs, particularly
\nfrom areas such as Mararaba, Mabushi and Jabi. This negates the claim
\nthat they are farmers from Kebbi State.<\/p>\n
“To be absolutely clear, all successful ABP applications for the 2019
\nfarming seasons have been honoured by NIRSAL. As required by the
\nguidelines issued by the Central Bank, farmers with incomplete loan
\ndocumentations are prevented from accessing the funds in their accounts
\nuntil they meet the obligations.”<\/p>\n
She said the attempt was bound to fail because “facts do not lie” and
\nthe effort to discredit the institution by persons who do not mean well
\nfor the sector and the country was bound to fail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Protesters at the offices of the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System For Agricultural Lending NIRSAL, have been exposed as paid agents who were recruited from Abuja by corrupt interests fighting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n