Ecobank Nigeria has entered into a first tranche $41 million investment deal with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).
The deal is for agricultural value chain financing.
The Managing Director of the bank, Patrick Akinwuntan, said the bank had concluded plans to invest N70 billion in agricultural financing in the next three years.
The deal is in line with the request of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that banks provide more funding to the agriculture sector.
NIRSAL was set up by the Federal Governmental as an innovative mechanism targeted at de-risking lending to the agricultural sector.
Akinwuntan disclosed that a N15 billion dedicated funding with NIRSAL guarantee is for an initial takeoff tranche and rollovers will be done at the completion of each cycle.
“Agriculture is pivotal to the success and development of any nation’s economy. We are therefore committed to working with NIRSAL to open up the vast opportunities that abound in agriculture.
“Ecobank has done it in other countries across the continent, so we can do the same in Nigeria. This will give us the opportunity to create employment and enable farmers to finance their children’s education with ease.
“We prefer people to see us not just as a bank, but as a partner who will help them succeed. We are part of the community and we meet the people at the point of their needs.” he said.
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