Reps Investigate Insurance for N1.12trn Borrowers' Scheme

The House of Representatives, through its committee on nutrition and food security, is probing the insurance coverage related to the N1.12 trillion Anchor Borrowers' Scheme. The investigation, led by Chike Okafor, aims to uncover issues that may have hampered the successful implementation of the scheme.

Dayo Babaronti, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), disclosed that the corporation provided coverage for 207,514 farmers amounting to N109 billion. However, it was noted that NAIC was appointed as the sole insurance company to cover participants under a contract with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which also involved two other insurance firms, Verita Kapital Insurance and Leadway Insurance.

Notably, Verita Kapital Insurance and Leadway Insurance did not send representatives to the hearing. The overall coverage provided by NAIC is reported to be 12 percent of the scheme, which is part of a risk-sharing system for agricultural lending.

The committee is focused on understanding why the program has not achieved 100 percent success.