DBN, NIRSAL sign pact to promote agricultural lending

The Development Bank of Nigeria Plc (DBN) and the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at promoting lending to the agricultural sector and its value chain.

The signing ceremony which took place on Tuesday at NIRSAL headquarters, Abuja, is a strategic collaboration that will impact positively on agriculture and all the value chain players and thus; address the concerns of financial institutions on the high risk of lending to the sector.

Speaking at the occasion, the Managing Director of DBN, Tony Okpanachi, stressed that “the Micro Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs), if well managed, have the potential to achieve key macroeconomic objectives of the Federal Government which include, but are not limited to, job creation, poverty alleviation, financial inclusion, development of technology and so on.”

On his part, the Managing Director of NIRSAL, Aliyu Abdulhameed, said, “NIRSAL’s primary mandate is to facilitate the flow of credit, finance and investments into agriculture and agribusiness.

“NIRSAL believes strategic collaboration with major stakeholders in the industry is pivotal to achieving defined and well-tailored objectives and results,” he concluded.