Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina
The Federal Government has released N995.2m ($5m) to the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation for the development agricultural insurance in the country.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, disclosed this at the inauguration of Lagos head office annex of NAIC.
“I have given a directive to NAIC to totally reform and reposition agricultural insurance. To ensure this, I have directed the release of $5m to NAIC to support its institutional reforms, strengthening of its operations and roll-out of agricultural insurance products,” he said.
The minister also said he had directed NAIC to ensure that it worked with global reinsurance companies to make agricultural insurance in Nigeria of global standard.
He said government had introduced the Growth Enhancement Scheme to provide subsidied farm materials to farmers directly through electronic coupons on their mobile telephones or the electronic wallet (e-wallet) scheme.
According to him, the e-wallet scheme has been a huge success.
“Within the past three years, over 14.5 million farmers have received their farm inputs directly through the e-wallet scheme,” he said.
According to him, this included over 2.5 million women farmers, many of whom received subsidised farm inputs for the first time.
The Chairman, NAIC, Mrs. Chioma Ohakim, said the firm is the pioneer insurer of agricultural risks in Nigeria and the West African sub-region.
She said the current board of directors, which is the sixth in the history of the corporation, was inaugurated in September, 2013.
The chairman said upon inauguration, the board immediately commenced work by putting in place some critical arrangements including appointment of its vital committees to oversee the challenging task of turning the corporation around.
She said for the first time in the history of the corporation, the board organised a board and management retreat, where highly cerebral facilitators helped to dissect all issues concerning the smooth-running of the corporation.
At the retreat, she said that core values, vision and mission statements of the corporation emerged.
The chairman said the inauguration of the building in Lagos wqs one of the results of many acts of synergy employed towards enhancing the visibility of the corporation in the nation’s business environment.
She said to achieve the objectives of the firm, it restructured the operation of the corporation in different areas.
She added that it enhanced customer service and improved turnaround time; it re-branded and improved the visibility of the corporation.
This, she stressed, increased market penetration, leading to an increase in premium income.
Others, she added, were improvement in staff training and development as well as improved staff welfare.
She said it also ensured the deployment of the ICT in the corporation, creation of succession plan for senior and middle management levels and improved corporate governance.
The Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association, Mr. Gus Wiggle, said the inauguration of the NAIC office in Lagos was a good development.
Accessibility to agricultural insurance, he added, would be an end to colossal loss by farmers in the state.
A former President, Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, Mrs. Laide Osijo, said it was cogent for NAIC to do a lot of training and workshops to enlighten the farmers on the benefits of having insurance.
She assured the corporation of the council’s support.
(Punch)
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