Anchor Borrowers Programme: Niger State picks 6000 Civil Servants  

Niger State Government in North-central Nigeria has registered 6000 civil servants in the State for the CBN Rice intervention scheme.

The programme according to the state government is to encourage civil servants in agriculture participation and to boost the state’s internally generated revenue.

The Governor of the state, Abubakar Sani Bello flagged-off the wet season farming for the State civil servants organized by Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria RIFAN in Minna the state capital and assured that the scheme will go a long way towards enhancing the welfare of civil servants in the State.

“I will engage the CBN to increase the number in the next farming season as the state has the capacity to cultivate enough rice to feed the nation”, he said.

The Governor who implored civil servants in the State to embrace programmes that will earn them more income than their salaries, explained that the commencement of the initiative is a fulfilment of his dream for the state civil servants.

Governor Bello urged the civil servants in the State to key into the scheme and acknowledged that the programme has immense benefits as it will create job opportunities.

Boosting food security
The Niger State Head of Service, Hajiya Salamatu Abubakar, said the initiative is a social intervention to boost food security in the State and the country. She added that 2,000 and 4,000 civil servants both at the state and local government level have already expressed interest in the programme with about 300 being captured already for the take-off of the scheme.

Abubakar assured the Governor of proper monitoring of the programme and pointed out that farming is one legitimate activity a civil servant can do while still in service.

The Coordinator of the Niger State chapter of RIFAN, Idris Usman Makaranta, said the Central Bank will make funds available to mop-up excess rice after the harvest from the farmers and at the end of the farming season the benefited civil servants are expected to harvest 60 bags and also repay the loan with 8-10 bags.

Nneka Ukachukwu