By Rashidat AbdulRahman
Niger Foods recently hosted a strategic luncheon with officials from First City Monument Bank (FCMB), bringing together representatives from the bank’s Lagos headquarters and its AgriDesk team in Abuja.
The meeting focused on developing collaborative initiatives to accelerate Niger State’s agricultural transformation agenda, championed by Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago.
Leading the FCMB delegation, Mr. Onasanyi Damilare presented a suite of agricultural financing products aimed at boosting productivity and strengthening the value chain,explaining livestock financing under the L-PRES scheme, agro commodity finance for structured trade, and an export business finance facility tailored for globally oriented agribusinesses.
He also highlighted FCMB’s electronic warehouse receipt financing system, which allows farmers and aggregators to access credit facilities using stored commodities as collateral.
Discussions centered on aligning Niger Foods’ strategic operations with FCMB’s financing, compliance, and risk management frameworks. Both parties agreed to pursue immediate collaboration in three priority areas: livestock financing solutions, warehouse receipt management systems, and agro input financing mechanisms.
In his response, Executive Director of Niger Foods, Mr. Ola Oloyede, reaffirmed that the partnership aligns with Governor Bago’s vision to promote food security, job creation, and commercial scale agricultural development across Niger State.