By Adedapo Adesanya
A tripartite agreement that will provide insurance to the transportation of agricultural products across the country has been signed.
The deal was sealed by the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), the Nigeria Association of Agricultural Product Dealers (NAAPD) and the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will ensure the implementation of the National Transit Insurance Scheme (NATIS) which will help shield benefiting farmers against losses that come in the event of uncertainties like accidents.
The Managing Director of NAIC, Mrs Folashade Joseph, which made the disclosure, explained that agricultural products in the country moved from one point or one state to other needed to be insured due to cases of accidents that have occurred in the past not only to cushion farmers but Nigerians by extension.
She said: “President Muhammadu Buhari is very serious about the project agriculture. All hands must be on deck because we must produce what we eat.
“It must be a collective effort that insurance is in place for the sustainability of agriculture. It is getting popular as people are beginning to know its importance”.
The NAIC chief further added the importance of sensitisation cannot be ruled out in the implementation of the scheme.
“We cannot afford for our farmers to toil and at the end of the day, they lose their products”, she said.
Meanwhile, the Founder and Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT), NAAPD, Mr Charles Orji, said the signing of the MoU will go a long way in helping farmers secure their goods in the event of any form of loss, particularly transitional accidents.
He said, “we as traders suffer a lot when moving our goods from one place to another.
“Most times in the event of accidents, truck owners get insurance but the owner of the goods suffer huge losses.”
In his contribution, the Director of Finance and Administration, ALGON, Mr Salawu Ozigi, said the association was committed to ensuring the impact of the scheme was felt in every nook and cranny of the country.
Mr Ozigi said the scheme would not only safeguard goods but the lives of the transporters.
He assured that “ALGON will put necessary measures in place to ensure the success of the scheme.
Also speaking, the Secretary-General of NAAPD, Mr Kingsley Chikezie, assured that the scheme would yield result, as security agencies, international organisations and other critical stakeholders were part of it.
“Insurance is very key to what we are doing, especially in Nigeria, where the roads are not too good and our people ply these roads on a daily basis.
“Nigeria will ever be grateful to NAIC for embracing this project as well as ALGON everyone that has contributed to the success of today’s event,” he added.
