The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has pledged to partner with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) on policy alignment to reform cooperatives and the National Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC).

The minister of state for agriculture and food security, Aliyu Abdullahi, gave the assurance during a courtesy visit by a delegation from NAICOM on Friday in Abuja.

Mr Abdullahi said partnership, cooperation and policy alignment were critical to national development.

He said insurance for cooperative societies was essential, in line with global best practices.

According to him, this must be done without losing the cooperative identity regarding its value in terms of integrity, governance among others. 

“It is something that is desired in terms of diversification of economy, small-scale holders, among others.

“Studies have shown that most of the countries that have stable economy performance actually have very viable cooperatives.

“So we truly want this to bear base on President Bola Tinubu desire to have one trillion dollar economy.

“The Renewal Hope Agenda of President Tinubu is clear- to improve governance, every sector must harmonise policies,” he said. 

He described the meeting as a milestone and said the ministry was prepared to strengthen collaboration with the commission.

Mr Abdullahi said the ministry sought a strong technical working relationship with NAICOM to transform the food system.

“We are looking at having a Memorandum of Understanding between the ministry and NAICON regarding NAIC and cooperative reform.

Earlier, chief executive officer of NAICOM, Olusegun Omosehin, said the visit was to seek partnership in revamping NAIC and cooperatives.

Mr Omosehin said the initiative aligned with the administration’s agenda on peace, security and economic stability.

He said NAIC, the country’s specialised agricultural insurer, was under the ministry’s supervision.

According to him, NAIC plays a fundamental role in protecting smallholder farmers and strengthening food security resilience.

He said the objectives required policy alignment to achieve desired results in the agricultural sector.

“The visit is basically to announce our partnership to align policies in the agricultural space, such that we can jointly elevate NAIC to a level that it can deliver on its promises.

“Nigerians need NAIC to optimise food production ,” he said.

(NAN)