The first Chief Executive/Managing Director of the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc), Mr. Abdulhameed Abbati Aliyu, is without a doubt a passionate business mogul who continues to seek for novel ways of moving NIRSAL forward and impacting Nigeria’s economy positively.

He is versatile and not only an Agricultural Economist but also an institutional development expert and programme management specialist with a large experience portfolio accredited to his name. He has experience in Process development, Transportation and Logistics, Commercial Agricultural Production and transformation institutional building, Operational improvement Consultancy Services, Commodity Marketing, Input Procurement and Supplies as well as Agricultural Extension Services.

His educational achievement is as vast as his experience. He holds a BSc Degree in Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology and specializing in Public Policy and he earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. At some point, he acquired some educational knowledge from the Nigerian Defence Academy. His educational roots also go beyond Nigeria as he procured from the Project Management College of the United Kingdom, an Executive Masters Certificate in Project Management.


His education, experience, passion as well as excellent leadership skills, has made Mr. Abdulhameed Abbati Aliyu a force to reckon with in the field of agribusiness in Nigeria and is fast extending to other African countries. His presence in the agribusiness is highly noticeable as he was selected as the leader of NIRSAL, a position that he has efficiently managed for three and counting. Under his leadership, NIRSAL has being able to device novel methods with which to impact heavily in reducing the rate of unemployment and poverty in Nigeria via the introduction and implementation of numerous Agricultural programmes to empower small scale farmers in the number of millions.

He also drove NIRSAL into limelight of renowned global organizations in the agricultural sector such as African Development Bank (AfDB), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). African governments have been watching and adopting the NIRSAL model. Several African countries such as Uganda, South Sudan and many more have shown interest in replicating an agribusiness like NIRSAL in their countries.

On the international scene, Mr. Abdulhameed oversees several investment and risk management projects while leveraging on his agricultural finance and risk management experience from spending years at NIRSAL. This has resulted in the boost in investments from commercial banks to mitigate losses.

Mr. Abdulhameed is a fellow at the Microfinance Association of the United Kingdom, the Institute of Credit Administration (ICA) in Nigeria, and a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered). He is a Senior Associate Member of the Risk Managers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) and an Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).

He received the award of the Grande Chancellerie De L’Ordre Du Muno of the Republic of Togo for successfully coordinating project TIRSAL, a replica of NIRSAL in the republic Togo, in June 2018.