The House of Representatives on Thursday commenced an investigative hearing into insurance coverage for the N1.12 trillion Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme.

Speaking at the hearing, the representative of the Managing Director of the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), Dayo Babaranti, said the corporation only provided insurance cover to 207,514 farmers to the tune of N109 billion under the Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme.

Chairman of the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, Hon. Chike Okafor, said the committee was mandated to investigate the utilisation of the N1.12 trillion meant for the execution of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, which was allegedly diverted by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as well as the disbursement of the fund by Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs).

He disclosed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), contrary to the scheme’s initial policy under which NAIC was appointed as the sole insurance provider for participants, contracted two other insurance firms, Veritas Kapital Insurance and Leadway Insurance.

However, Veritas Kapital Insurance and Leadway Insurance did not send representatives to the hearing.

Babaranti said the corporation ultimately provided only 12 per cent coverage for the scheme.

Giving a further breakdown of NAIC’s involvement, he said that for the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Plc’s agricultural financing ₦250 billion facility to support smallholder farmers across the country, NAIC provided cover to the tune of N8.254 billion.

According to him, the corporation also provided N715 million worth of cover for 80 hectares of ginger farms out of the N1.6 billion funding announced for the programme.

On the Bank of Industry (BoI) Agro and Food Processor Scheme, Babaranti told the committee that NAIC was not given any of the participants to provide insurance cover, contrary to the Anchor Borrowers’ policy.

Reacting to the presentation, Hon. Okafor announced that the panel would be inviting the NAIC leadership on a date to be announced, noting that the committee had received many complaints from participants, farmers, and commodity associations regarding the insurance cover provided by the corporation.

The lawmaker also explained that NAIC submitted its documents late on Wednesday, giving the committee limited time to study them.

He reiterated that the House would uncover all issues that hampered the successful implementation of federal government interventions aimed at improving food production in the country.

He disclosed that preliminary findings by the committee indicate that stakeholders, especially farmers and farmers’ and commodity associations, were not involved in designing the interventions, such as the Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme; hence, the unsatisfactory performance of the programme.

“The reason why we are here is because the programmes did not succeed 100 per cent. If they had succeeded 100 per cent, we would not be here,” Hon. Okafor said. (Nigerian Tribune)