Economy
Isidore Brightens Spirits of Smallholder Farmers Affected by Floods
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Last year, Nigeria witnessed one of its worst floods after a similar occurrence a decade earlier. The flooding wreaked havoc on farmlands and destroyed the livelihoods of many smallholder farmers.
Just when victims are feeling like all hope to restart their lives is lost, a Nigerian agritech startup, Isidore, is brightening their spirits.
According to the founder of Isidore, Ms Karen Adie, smallholder farmers are very critical to Nigeria and its food security, and they must not be left alone because it would affect the nation.
Isidore, a member of the Founders Factory Africa startup portfolio, provides access to capital, market linkages, and value-add tools to smallholder farmers. This is so that smallholder farmers can maximise income from their labour. Many of their customers are in the states worst affected by this year’s flooding.
With smallholder farmers making up 85 per cent of Nigeria’s farming community, floods like the ones experienced in Northern Nigeria in 2022 highlight the delicate balance these farmers maintain in providing for their families and themselves while feeding their surrounding communities.
“For farmers in low-lying areas like Argungu in Kebbi state, the floods were a terrible jeopardy. Many have lost their livelihood and their homes. Suddenly, we were faced with a COVID-level humanitarian crisis,” Ms Adie stated.
“The daily realities of these communities, which are usually impoverished, are real. Yet, they are facing the brunt of climate change, which has created an uncertainty they live with daily.
“Without smallholder farmers, hunger would skyrocket in northern Nigeria. These farmers are our partners. As Isidore, we had to do something,” she added.
She stated that her firm has come up with an initiative, Habitats for Hope Program, to bring succour to smallholder farmers in the country.
Run out of Isidore’s Lagos head office, the Habitats for Hope Program was founded to provide welfare support to grain farmers in rural agrarian communities, with farmers able to join the program by registering on Isidore’s Jinja platform.
“To join the program, you need to be a grain farmer, a member of a farming community or association, and be willing to use the Jinja platform. The platform allows us to directly interact with program beneficiaries quickly, with its existing infrastructure allowing us to scale the program at speed,” Adie explains.
“In terms of what we’ve achieved so far, we identified a total of 44 homes that need to be rebuilt – we split this into 3 phases; we’re currently in phase 1, working on the homes of 6 farmers.
“So far, since the program’s inception in October 2022, we’ve identified 44 homes that need to be rebuilt. The building program has been split into three phases. We are currently in phase 1, working on six homes destroyed by the flooding in Kebbi state. We have 40 local volunteers helping us and our beneficiaries rebuild their homes, and by extension, their communities, as quickly as possible,” she disclosed.
Ms Adie hopes that from these seeds, the program can work with over 200 farming communities in Nigeria by December 2024. Beyond flood assistance, the Habitats For Hope Program focuses more broadly on housing and living conditions, education and skills development, and healthcare and disease prevention.
“We could not just limit the program to housing and living conditions. If a farmer gets sick and cannot tend to their land, it directly impacts that farmer’s ability to feed themselves, their family, and the surrounding community that relies on them. Worse, it directly impacts that farmer’s livelihood, with the sale of excess crops being their primary source of income.
“Coupled with this, education can play a vital role in allowing farmers to increase crop yield and use new ways to farm their lands. A larger yield means greater food security and can make a tangible difference in farmers’ lives through the money they make selling their produce,” she stated.
With the program in its infancy, Ms Adie and the Isidore team are searching for partners to enlarge the program’s impact. Partners could contribute financially to procure materials and extend the program’s ability to develop affected communities.
The provision of volunteers, building materials, equipment, farming inputs, and healthcare is just as critical. Furthermore, access to training, skills development and other service contributions are being sought.
Business Post recalled that between August and October 2022, floods ravaged thousands of homes across northern Nigeria, with the states of Kebbi, Jigawa, Kano and Sokoto significantly affected.
It is believed that at least 30 people died due to the flooding, with survivors now having to pick up the pieces.
Beyond the destruction of homes and loss of life, the flooding represents a mortal threat to the livelihoods and food security of farmers and people living in flooded areas, with vital farmlands ruined and critical roads and bridges washed away.
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented a budget proposal of N58.47 trillion for the 2026 fiscal year titled Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity to a joint session of the National Assembly, with capital recurrent (non‑debt) expenditure standing at 15.25 trillion, and the capital expenditure at N26.08 trillion, while the crude oil benchmark was pegged at $64.85 per barrel.
Business Post reports that the Brent crude grade currently trades around $60 per barrel. It is also expected to trade at that level or lower next year over worries about oil glut.
At the budget presentation today, Mr Tinubu said the expected total revenue for the year is N34.33 trillion, and the proposal is anchored on a crude oil production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of N1,400 to the US Dollar.
In terms of sectoral allocation, defence and security took the lion’s share with N5.41 trillion, followed by infrastructure at N3.56 trillion, education received N3.52 trillion, while health received N2.48 trillion.
Addressing the lawmakers, the President described the budget proposal as not “just accounting lines”.
“They are a statement of national priorities,” the president told the gathering. “We remain firmly committed to fiscal sustainability, debt transparency, and value‑for‑money spending.”
The presentation came at a time of heightened insecurity in parts of the country, with mass abductions and other crimes making headlines.
Outlining his government’s plan to address the challenge, President Tinubu reminded the gathering that security “remains the foundation of development”.
He said some of the measures in place to tame insecurity include the modernisation of the Armed Forces, intelligence‑driven policing and joint operations, border security, and technology‑enabled surveillance and community‑based peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
“We will invest in security with clear accountability for outcomes—because security spending must deliver security results,” the president said.
“To secure our country, our priority will remain on increasing the fighting capability of our armed forces and other security agencies by boosting personnel and procuring cutting-edge platforms and other hardware,” he added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The deadline for the recapitalisation of the Nigerian pension industry has been extended by six months to June 2027 from December 2026.
This extension was approved by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the agency, which regulates the sector in the country.
Addressing newsmen on Thursday in Lagos, the Director-General of PenCom, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, explained that the shift in deadline was to give operators more time to boost the capital base, dismissing speculations that the exercise had been suspended.
“The recapitalisation has not been suspended. We have communicated the requirements to the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), and we expect every operator to be compliant by June 2027. Anyone who is not compliant by then will lose their licence,” Ms Oloworaran told journalists.
She added that, “From a regulatory standpoint, our major challenge is ensuring compliance. We are working with ICPC, labour and the TUC to ensure employers remit pension contributions for their employees.”
The DG noted that engagements with industry operators indicated broad acceptance of the policy, with many PFAs already taking steps to raise additional capital or explore mergers and acquisitions.
“You may see some mergers and acquisitions in the industry, but what is clear is that the recapitalisation exercise is on track and the industry agrees with us,” she stated.
PenCom wants the PFAs to increase their capital base and has created three categories, with the first consists operators with Assets Under Management of N500 billion and above. They are expected to have a minimum capital of N20 billion and one per cent of AUM above N500 billion.
The second category has PFAs with AUM below N500 billion, which must have at least N20 billion as capital base.
The last segment comprises special-purpose PFAs such as NPF Pensions Limited, whose minimum capital was pegged at N30 billion, and the Nigerian University Pension Management Company Limited, whose minimum capital was fixed at N20 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Thursday, December 18.
According to data, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc led the losers’ group after it slipped by N2.87 to N36.78 per share from N39.65 per share, Golden Capital Plc depreciated by 77 Kobo to end at N6.98 per unit versus the previous day’s N7.77 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc dropped 19 Kobo to sell at N60.00 per share versus Wednesday’s closing price of N60.19 per share.
At the close of business, the market capitalisation lost N16.81 billion to finish at N2.147 billion compared with the preceding session’s N2.164 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) declined by 24.76 points to 3,589.88 points from 3,614.64 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold increased by 49.3 per cent to 30.5 million units from 20.4 million units, the value of securities surged by 211.8 per cent to N225.1 million from N72.2 million, and the number of deals jumped by 33.3 per cent to 28 deals from 21 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc remained the most traded stock by value with a year-to-date sale of 5.8 billion units valued at N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units transacted for N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units worth N4.9 billion.
Similarly, InfraCredit Plc ended as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units traded for N16.4 billion, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.7 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units exchanged for N524.9 million.
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