BusinessDay 21 Aug 2018

Tuesday 21 August 2018
Smallholder farmers get NIRSAL
improved insurance scheme
ONYINYE NWACHUKWU, Abuja
Nigeria Incentive-Based
Risk Sharing
System for
Agricultural
Lending (NIRSAL) has developed
a new insurance
product to better safeguard
farmers against risks along
the agric value chain.
The product is especially
targeted at smallholder
farmers - the most vulnerable
segment in the agricultural
sector and the Nigerian
population as a whole.
The deployment of the
product, which improves
on its pioneering Area Yield
Index Insurance (AYII)
mechanism introduced last
year, begins immediately
with a pilot phase as part of
NIRSAL’s operations in the
CBN’s Anchor Borrowers
Programme.
While the cover provided
by the earlier product was
limited to yield insurance,
the new insurance product,
NIRSAL Comprehensive
Index Insurance (NCII), is a
combination of Yield Index,
Price Index and Life Insurance,
Anne Ihugba, head,
corporate communications
at the NIRSAL, said in a
statement.
“It is designed to mitigate
the impact and losses of both
yield risk and market price
risk – fundamental risks
associated with possible
production shortfalls and
the uncertainties of the marketplace,”
Ihugba explained.
The new insurance product,
an innovative form of
revenue insurance, is unique
in Africa. It is also the first of
such product to be achieved
without government subsidies
on the premium.
Beyond the benefits to
farmers, NCII’s comprehensive
cover will also encourage
financial institutions to
lend more to primary production
and ensure reduced
premiums in comparison
with the earlier version.
This will also lead to an
additional benefit – the
eradication of premium
subsidy, to free up government
funds for intervention
in other areas.
Leveraging on its $30
million insurance facility,
NIRSAL’s goal is to expand
insurance products and
coverage for agricultural
lending across the entire
value chain by growing coverage
from about 500,000
to 3.8 million primary producers.
Speaking on the development,
Aliyu Abdulhameed,
managing director, NIR-
SAL, said the new insurance
product was a testament to
NIRSAL’s focus on expanding
the frontiers of innovation
in Nigerian agriculture
in pursuit of practical and
effective benefits.
“At NIRSAL, our focus is
on making positive impact at
key points of the agricultural
value chain that can trans-
late to significantly higher
and sustained productivity
and food security for the
country. In line with our
mandate to de-risk Nigerian
agriculture, this innovative
insurance product will help
to secure farmers against
key risks in order to make
agriculture more attractive
and more profitable,” Abdulhameed
said.
He expressed his appreciation
to NAICOM, NAIC
and the insurance companies
who collaborated with
NIRSAL on the project.
NCII was developed by
the Corporation in conjunction
with key partners
- NAICOM (regulator of the
insurance industry), NAIC
(lead of the consortium
of insurance on NIRSAL
Anchor Borrowers Programme),
and members of
the consortium (Axa Mansard,
IGI, Leadway, Royal
Exchange), and Pula Advisors
(consultant to NIRSAL
on agricultural insurance).
L-R: Oghenevwoke Ighure, executive director, digital services, BusinessDay; Chiamaka Osuchukwu, a participant; Feyi Olubodun,
CEO, Insight Publicis/speaker; Gbenga Omolokun, COO, VFD Group/speaker, and Hameed Salman, a participant, at The CEO
Apprentice, an entrepreneurship programme for teenagers organised by BusinessDay Media in Lagos. Pic by Pius Okeosisi
Customs seizes 11,232 pieces of imported military outfit
IGNATIUS CHUKWU & INNOCENT ETENG
Customs officials in
Onne, Rivers State,
have impounded not
less than 11,232 pieces
of illegally imported military
outfit and arrested an importer
said to be under watch.
The 11,232 is the total
of a combination of different
types of military wears
ranging from t-shirts to caps,
jungle boots and others hidden
in a container that also
contained civilian wears and
other materials.
Sanusi Umar, Custom’s
assistant comptroller general,
revealed this last week,
while inspecting the seized
materials at the Command’s
office in Onne.
Umar emphasised that
the materials were seized
because private individuals,
groups and companies were
legally prohibited from importing
such.
He said investigations into
an earlier seized container of
same materials imported by
the same importer, in June,
gave way to the recent seizure.
The importer, identified
as Ongwatabo Jerry, has been
arrested and is under investigation,
Umar said further.
“After profiling the importer’s
transactions, I am
happy to inform you that
we have arrested another
container MRKU 4909151
(1×40ft) belonging to the
same company, Ehigocho Nigeria
Limited with Ogwatabo
Jerry as the prime suspect.
“On examination, it was
found to contain the following:
620 sets of complete
sewn military camouflage
uniforms and caps, 10, 000
pieces of inner military t-
shirts, 512 pairs of military
jungle boots. The said Ongwatabo
is the sole importer
that opened the form M for
the importation of these two
containers.
“Let me use this opportunity
to draw the attention
of Nigerians (to the fact) that
importation of any kind of
military wears by any individual,
company, or group
is prohibited by Nigerian
law under the Customs and
Exercise Management Acts
(CEMA),” he said.
Governor Governor
Obaseki of
Edo State says the
establishment of
production centres across
the state, which will share
support infrastructure such
as electricity, security and
low-cost financing, will
boost economic growth.
Obaseki said this at a
meeting with leaders of the
All Progressives Congress
(APC) in Edo South Senatorial
District on Sunday
in Benin City, the state
capital. He told the party
leaders that his administration
was partnering private
investors to establish production
centres across the
state beginning with Edo
South Senatorial District.
“This will boost economic
growth, reduce cost
of operations and create
employment opportunities
while enhancing econo-
National Social Investment
Office
of the Presidency
has disassociate
the office from a message
currently circulating on social
media, conveying the
impression that the disbursement
of the repatriated
money by the Swiss government,
otherwise referred to
as Abacha Loot, will commence
in October with the
TraderMoni Micro-Credit
Loan Scheme.
According to the message
signed by Maryam
Uwais, special adviser to
the President on social
investment, the ‘grant,’ derived
from the recovered
looted fund, is being anchored
by Access Bank.
The statement read in
part: “The Federal Government
had deemed it fit to
grant it to Nigerians, especially
small-scale business
owners. The money will be
paid to your account and
you are to pay back within six
Ogbeh lauds CBN’s single-digit interest on agric lending
Minister of agriculture
and
rural development,
Audu
Ogbeh, has described as
laudable the announcement
last Thursday by the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the
agreement between the CBN
and the Bankers’ Committee
to offer single-digit interest
rate loans to operators in the
agricultural and manufacturing
sectors of the economy
from commercial banks’
Cash Reserve Requirement
(CRR) with the apex bank.
Considering the idea by
the CBN, Ogbeh observed
that this was a remarkable
progress in government’s
efforts towards boosting the
real sector to which agricul-
C002D5556
Edo unveils strategy to mitigate operational cost
for MSMEs, boost production scale, employment
NSIO debunks fake news on Abacha loot
ture was pivotal. This is expected
to boost food security,
employment creation and
agro-industrial development.
The minister also congratulated
Vice President
Yemi Osinbajo on the new
policy reducing lending rates
to Micro, Small and Medium
scale Enterprises (MSMEs),
noting that the CBN’s move
was in compliance with the
Presidential directive to
lower lending rates to the
productive sectors of the
Nigerian economy, on which
the minister had repeatedly
assured Nigerians.
That the central bank
considered working with
the Bankers’ Committee to
finance agriculture from the
commercial banks’ huge
BUSINESS DAY
7
NEWS
mies of scale,” he explained.
He assured that efforts
were being made to “expand
opportunities for
micro-credit of single-digit
interest rate for women to
encourage entrepreneurship
and boost disposable
income while improving
the quality of lives of the
beneficiaries.”
In attendance were cabinet
members, members
of the Federal House of
Representatives and leaders
and representatives of
the seven local government
areas that make up the
senatorial district, including
women.
The party leaders commended
the focus of the administration
and described
the Ward Development Committees
(WDCs) as a game
changer, which they said were
bringing the dividends of
democracy to the grassroots.
months. So, the programme
is designated for small-scale
business owners.
“You are to walk into any
Access Bank Branch ask
them for Trade Form, which
the Federal Government
say they should give. Please
note, it is free of charge, but
Access Bank will ask you to
pay N1200, for those who
do not have Access Bank account,
if you have an Access
Bank account you don’t have
to pay for any account opening
and they will give you the
form and fill.
“It’s an instant form that
you can fill and submit there
immediately. Pls, go with a
passport photograph, and
your BVN number. I repeat,
the form is free of charge.
Don’t pay to anybody unless
you want to open an Access
Bank account, which is
about N1,200 in other (sic) to
make it fast. But if you have
an account with access before
its easy, they will link up
your account with the form.”
reserves, running into billions
of naira, is a cause for
optimism in the agricultural
sector. This is more so as the
single-digit interest rate of 9
percent on long-term credit
of a minimum tenor of seven
years will support stable agricultural
investment and
predictable increase in food
production.
The multiplier effect of
this initiative at a time of
a restructured and recapitalised
Bank of Agriculture
(BoA) will be a reduction in
uncertainties and avoidable
risks in agricultural investments,
where farmers will
enjoy wider latitude of access
to loans from either commercial
banks or BoA with
less hassles.