CSOs condemn attacks on NIRSAL

From Nicholas Kalu, Abuja

A coalition of 16 civil society organizations (CSOs) spearheaded by Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) have condemned attacks on the Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL PLC).

The CSOs said NIRSAL, an institution that is playing a key role in the transformation of Nigerian agriculture, has been the subject of a vicious and sustained campaign of calumny over the past two years.

Addressing reporters in Abuja on Wednesday, National Coordinator of HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the  campaign which has intensified in the last six months is being executed by faceless element who hide behind compromised social media platforms to throw mud at the organization.

According to him, to achieve their nefarious objectives, they have forged fake documents, organized fake protests, sponsored fake farmer groups and induced unprofessional media platforms which lack integrity to public unverified falsehoods against the institution.

The CSOs rued that such attacks on the organization which has done well to improve the agriculture, a priority of the present Federal administration, are counter productive to the achievements of government in the sector.

“They have also tried to instigate the security agencies through baseless unsubstantiated reports based on the same fake allegations which they have sponsored on social media. The allegations have ranged from mismanagement of funds by its current leadership to claims of discrimination and favouritism.

“Significantly, despite the media campaign and reports made to the security agencies, no evidence of impropriety has been found. We the coalition of Civil Society Organizations are very concerned about the ongoing campaign against NIRSAL PLC for the following reasons.

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“First the effort to distract and even disable NIRSAL PLC is not in the interest of the nation because this five year old institution’s mandate as given to it by the Central Bank of Nigeria, its sole shareholder, is central to the focus on agriculture by the Buhari administration, the sector that is the number of employer of labour and lynchpin of the nation’s plan for post-oil future.

“Second there is a clear evidence that NIRSAL PLC is doing justice to its mandate. It is an established fact that the institution, in just a few short years of its corporate existence has facilitated about N110 billion from the financial sector into agriculture. In the process it has contributed to the creation of millions of jobs and the improvement of lives of smallholder farmers across the country.

“Thirdly, NIRSAL PLC is adding significant value in other areas, notably agricultural insurance where it is working with partners to create and popularize innovative insurance packages that will reduce the risks faced by Nigerian farmer and help them benefit more from their toil.

“Fourthly and related to the above, the constitution is making brisk progress with its AgroGeoCoops scheme which is projected to create about 16, 000 farmer-cooperatives on four million hectares of farmland, enrol about eight million farmers to produce about 12 million metric tonnes of grain product equivalent annually, across Nigeria.

“It is totally incredible to us that an institution that is working so hard for the country, without budgetary appropriation by the Federal Government nor allocation of funds from the Central Bank of Nigeria, yet achieving solid results in a critical area of national development such as agriculture, can be subjected to endless attacks in pursuit of nefarious political goals and negative economic interests.

“It is important to note that NIRSAL PLC is a very unique, peerless and smart organization specially designed and created by the Central Bank of Nigeria as well as the CBN itself, yet this organization remains a profitable going concern whose meagre earnings are entirely spent for the public good while contributing immensely to the economic development of the country. Other countries in Africa have been impressed at the value-generating capacity of NIRSAL PLC that they have on several occasions, invited the current leadership of NIRSAL to assist in replicating this same institution in their respective jurisdictions.

“NIRSAL PLC’s leadership deserve the gratitude and commendation of the nation, not constant attacks. The sponsors of this campaign of falsehood and calumny must not be allowed to achieve their evil plans. If we sit back and fold our whilst this evil is allowed to fester, then we will be shooting ourselves in the foot destroying a unique creation of Nigeria, which is presently as envy of other countries in Africa and beyond.

“We are demanding by this statement demanding that the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, should commence and investigation and invite for interrogation, these bunch of detractors, traversing the entire length and breadth of the media industry in their campaign of calumny against the management of NIRSAL under its Managing Director, the erudite and hardworking Mr Aliyu Abbati Abdulhameed.

“We urge the Presidency not to be deceived by this evil campaign against the person of the MD of NIRSAL because those making those baseless allegations are working hard to scuttle the government’s agenda for agriculture revolution,” the CSOs said.