By Ayoade Esther Damola
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Dr. Aliyu Sabi Abduallahi has said that strategic partnership would fast track development in the agricultural insurance ecosystem through alignment of policies, reforms, inclusivity and enabling environment for economic opportunities and productivity.
The Minister made this disclosure during the courtesy visit by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) delegation led by the chief executive officer, Mr. Olusegun Omosehin.
Abduallahi stated that the collaboration aims to accelerate reforms, particularly by leveraging the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025 to modernize the sector and provide an enabling environment for economic opportunities and productivity in the agricultural sector.
He added that the partnership would facilitate data-driven solutions through the Ministry’s Data Analytics to support index insurance and enhance food security.
He said insurance for cooperative societies was essential, in line with global best practices; this must be done without losing the cooperative identity regarding its value in terms of integrity, governance among others.
The Minister pointed out that “Studies have shown that most of the countries that have stable economic performance actually have very viable cooperatives’’.
He revealed that “the Renewal Hope Agenda of President Tinubu is clear- to improve governance, every sector should harmonize policies’’.
He stated that the meeting was a milestone event and it would strengthen collaboration with the commission.
According to him “the ministry required a strong technical working relationship with NAICOM to transform the food system, we are looking at having a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry and NAICON regarding Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) and cooperative reform’’.
In his remarks, NAICOM, Chief Executive Officer, Omosehin, stated that the initiative aligned with the administration’s agenda on peace, security and economic stability.
He pointed out that NAIC, is the country’s specialized agricultural insurer and under the ministry’s purview.
According to him, ‘’NAIC plays a fundamental role in protecting smallholder farmers and strengthening food security resilience.
He stressed that “the visit is basically to reveal our partnership to align policies in the agricultural space, such that we can jointly elevate NAIC to a level that it can deliver on its mandate.
