ABU, NIRSAL plan partnership for commercial agriculture
Ahmadu Bello University and the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) are planning for a partnership for viable commercial agriculture.
This followed a meeting of heads of both organisations in Abuja last week at which they signified intentions to build strong partnership for agric business.
ABU has a huge agric complex like no other in any Nigerian university while NIRSAL is a financial institution designed to redefine, dimension, measure, re-price and share agribusiness-related credit risk with financiers and investors.
The university is expecting a team of experts from NIRSAL who will assess ABU agricultural potential for the partnership.
At the meeting held in Abuja on Wednesday, 4th March, 2026, the Vice-Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Prof Adamu Ahmed, said ABU appreciated the enormous work NIRSAL was doing in the area of finance and investment in the agricultural sector.
He praised the effort of the Hon. Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Mukhtar Idi Maiha, for recommending NIRSAL as a right partner for the university to successfully engage in commercial agriculture.
Prof Ahmed, who empathized ABU’s readiness for the partnership, explained that the university has a huge agric complex and a microfinance bank that could ease the partnership.
The Vice-Chancellor fingered the institution’s National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI) as the right place in ABU where the agric business would eventually be run.
“The research carried out on ShikaBrown by scientists at NAPRI is indeed a landmark achievement. But taking the project to the market remains a tedious task”, he said.
One of the NAPRI mandates, according to him, was to produce milk for the entire West Africa.
“So we need to invest so that the institute can produce all milk needed in the area. This is by way of making it a business venture”, he also said.
NIRSAL Managing Director Sa’ad Hamidu stated that there must be a business case wherever they stepped in.
Hamidu expressed NIRSAL’s readiness to partner with the university, assuring that they would look at how they could bring experts and finance the project.
“And we need to, first and foremost, visit the project site to do the scoping”, according to him.
The Managing Director also stressed that there has to be a business partnership before going into agreement.
NIRSAL’s relevant heads of unit were at the meeting co-chaired by the Managing Director and the Vice-Chancellor.
The Director, Directorate of Advancement and International Education, Ahmadu Bello University, Prof Muhammad Inuwa Umar-Buratai, was present at the meeting.
Others at the meeting from Ahmadu Bello University were Director, Public Affairs, Auwalu Umar; and Assistant Director, Advancement, Dr Ahmed Zakaria.
NIRSAL is a non-banking financial institution and a wholly-owned corporation of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
It was primarily established to stimulate the flow of affordable investments into the agriculture sector by de-risking the agribusiness finance value chain.
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Public Affairs Directorate,
Office of the Vice-Chancellor,
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (NEWS)
Tuesday, 10th March, 2026
