Economy
Shettima Orders Disbursement of N250bn Credit Support to Farmers
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Vice President of Nigeria, Mr Kashim Shettima, has directed the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit (PFSCU) to expedite action on the disbursement of the federal government’s N250 billion credit support for smallholder farmers at a single-digit interest rate.
Mr Shettima gave the directive during the 6th meeting of the PFSCU Steering Committee, held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, tasking the unit to come up with an implementation roadmap for the disbursement of the funds, saying it was necessary to avoid further delays and ensure that the target beneficiaries of the initiative were reached.
“On the Bank of Agriculture N250 billion facility, we need to sit down with all stakeholders and come up with a robust roadmap that ensures these funds reach the intended farmers and translate into real productivity gains,” the Vice President said.
He commended President Bola Tinubu for granting the PFSCU the political backing to act boldly on priority reforms, notably, the fertilizer raw material liberalization and the Presidential Seed Fund.
“I want to place it on record, our deep appreciation for Mr. President’s leadership and guidance. His clear directives on fertilizer liberalization and the seed fund have empowered the PFSCU to fast-track delivery in ways that directly support farmers and strengthen our food systems,” he stated.
Commending the PFSCU for the achievements recorded so far, he noted that the output of the unit has demonstrated that when Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, the private sector and development partners align, we can move swiftly from intent to delivery.
The VP also called for improved collaboration among stakeholders to revitalize the seed sector and expand the strategic grain reserve through the ongoing reform initiative of the Federal Government.
On his part, the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, stressed the need to establish a structure to ensure that the N250 billion credit support earmarked for small holder farmers by the Tinubu administration through the Bank of Agriculture reaches the farmers.
He also called for financial support for the PFSCU, pledging that his state was ready to provide financial assistance to them on a monthly basis.
Also, the Governor of Jigawa State, Mr Umar Namadi, commended the efforts of the Bank of Agriculture, emphasizing however that there is a need to provide subsidies for local Nigerian farmers.
On his part, the Governor of Cross River State, Mr Bassey Otu, agreed on credit issuance, advising however that local farmers be encouraged with incentives through subsidies.
Earlier in her presentation, the PFSCU Coordinator, Ms. Marion Moon underscored the urgency of protecting Nigeria’s fragile food security gains, with 30.8 million Nigerians still food insecure.
She said the unit had recorded significant progress in strengthening coordination and collaboration with MDAs across all three tiers of government.
Since the last SteerCo meeting in April, the PFSCU through respective MDAs has achieved major milestones: 250,000 farmers insured under the National Agribusiness Policy Mechanism (NAPM); Phase I of the Harvesting Hope Caravan launched across eight states in collaboration with state and local governments; approval of the N50 billion Seed Fund; and progress on the World Bank supported $500 million AGROW Programme.
Members commended the Harvesting Hope Caravan, currently engaging communities in collaboration with subnational governments.
The initiative underscores that agriculture is a shared responsibility, federal, state, local governments, private sector, and farmers must align in vision and purpose to sustain progress.
The meeting was attended by the Deputy Governors of Niger and Ebonyi States, the Ministers of Finance and Agriculture, Ministers of State for Finance and Agriculture, ALGON President, as well as representatives of the private sector and development partners.
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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