In line with its mandate to fix broken agricultural value chains and increase the flow of finance into the sector, the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc) is championing advocacy for the operationalisation of a Secured Agricultural Commodity Transport & Storage Corridor (SATS-C).
The initiative is expected to combat post-harvest losses, create jobs and boost the contribution of the agriculture sector to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
SATS-C is currently a policy document being prepared for executive consideration by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.
The ministry hosted a breakfast meeting yesterday to which they invited, amongst others, four other federal ministries deemed critical to the successful domestication of the SATS-C initiative. The ministries include those of Agriculture, Finance, Transport and Works.
As advocates of an agriculture sector with efficient production, transportation and storage systems, NIRSAL Plc was also represented at the meeting by an executive-level delegation.
The minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Richard Adeniyi, while presenting the SATS-C initiative to participants, sued for the continued commitment of the sister ministries with related mandates for the successful implementation of the proposed policy document, especially as they prepare to execute a common Client Service Charter that will enforce adherence to agreed rules and standards in a bid to accelerate the project.
There are existing capacities, policies and structures that are complementary to the operational framework of the SATS-C initiative.
The stakeholders intend to factor them in as they work on the details of the policy. Some of them include the One-Stop-Shop (OSS) Policy, the Road Crime Control System (RCCS) operated by the Federal Ministry of Transport, and the Agro Ranger Operations under the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
New initiatives that must be taken on board by the team include Social Engineering, to prepare beneficiaries and users for the SATS-C: Executive/Legislative Intervention to empower MDAs to expand their mandates and capacity building for stakeholders.
Amongst other things, SATS-C is expected to bring a coherent, harmonized tax scheme to bear on Nigeria’s agricultural logistics sub-sector which is currently leaking revenue through multiple taxation, extortion and post-harvest losses.
Speaking to journalists after attending the meeting, NIRSAL’s managing director/CEO, Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed, enthused that the FMITI’s commitment to SATS-C gives him a great sense of hope.
He believes that a fully operational SATS-C policy could directly lead to a 5 per cent increase in the agriculture sector’s contribution to national GDP by halving annual post-harvest losses of $12 billion.
Other benefits, he noted, lie in the lowering of food prices, creation of 125,600 direct and indirect jobs, and the heightened possibility of adhering to standards for improved access to export, industrial and consumer markets.