BoI, NIRSAL sign pact to improve lending to agric sector

The Bank of Industry (BoI) and Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) have signed a pact to enhance financing in the agriculture sector of the economy. Signing the agreement in Lagos, acting Managing Director of BoI, Mr Waheed Olagunju, said that the partnership would harness Nigeria’s potential in the agricultural value chain for improved productivity.
Olagunju said that the synergy would achieve inclusive growth by linking industries to farmers for their raw material input, ensure food security and reduce the country’s food import bill.
“We want to expand our lending to the agriculture sector in line with boosting industrialisation and food production in the country. Many banks shy away from lending to the agriculture sector because they see it as high risk investment. This synergy will have great multiplier effect on our economy. It is also a bold step to ensure that we direct the country’s economy back on course,’’ he said. Olagunju stated that the partnership would leverage development financing of the bank to make loans available at low interest rate to commercially-viable agricultural projects that had been de-risked and linked to structured market by NIRSAL.
According to him, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will support primary production, value addition, backward integration, processing, packaging, distribution and retailing across the agricultural value chain. On his part, Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed, Managing Director of NIRSAL, said that the collaboration would positively impact on the economic diversification disposition of the government. He said that the MoU would boost import substitution, job creation and actualise the Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) objective of the government.
“We are really excited at the potential impact that this partnership with BoI will have on the agric value chain in boosting production, reducing post-harvest losses and helping to build stronger post-oil economy for the country. We have started with BoI to ensure that we produce and consume locally. Our goal is to help Nigeria take advantage of the 22 billion dollars food import substitution market by producing the food locally,” Abdulhameed said.