Fake news has become the order of the day. So many have been using that to cause more harm than good. Some have even said that the first bank Anambra branch was robbed.

Well, I searched the news and could not find anything relevant to that information.

Saw this about the incident
https://www.nairaland.com/6509458/no-attack-first-bank-branch

SCAM ALERT: Attention has been drawn to some Telegram users please take note and be #ScamSmart. The free cash disposal airdrop bot happening on Telegram is nothing but a scam. As you can see First Bank @firstbankngr has debunked it already.

ABP SUPPORTS 475 FEMALE CASSAVA FARMERS IN UYO THROUGH NIRSAL’s EMPOWERMENT SCHEME


The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, NIRSAL Plc, is commissioning 475 female farmers in Uyo for cassava production during the 2020 wet season farming. In line with its Agro Geo-Cooperative® (AGC) model, NIRSAL Plc formed from these female Uyo farmers, a group which was aptly named ‘the Uyo Women Agro Geo-Cooperative’.

From then on, the 475 female farmers were trained on Good Agronomic Practices and received other contributions for their use. Also, all 478 hectares of land to be used by the Uyo Women Agro Geo-Cooperative will be mechanized throughout the planting season to enhance yields & profits and eliminate the stress of farming with crude implements.

Furthermore, the Uyo Women AGC members will receive financing through Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for which NIRSAL Plc plays a critical role of a Participating Financial Institution (PFI) to ascertain that the goal of CBN and the Federal Government to have developmental and economic diversification is met.

To officialize activities, the distribution of inputs to the farmers was commenced by NIRSAL Plc during a ceremony held at Anang People Primary School, Obio Ndot, Oruk Anam LGA of Akwa Ibom State. On this occasion, Mrs. Theresa Thompson Akpan, the President of the Uyo Women AGC, described the CBN’s support through NIRSAL as a milestone in enhancing cassava production in the state.

She encouraged the Uyo Women AGC farmers to embrace NIRSAL Plc’s approach to farming as a business in order to move from peasant farming to sustainable agribusiness. She expressed appreciation towards NIRSAL Plc for harnessing the female farmers’ potential and for extending its continuous support of agribusiness in Akwa Ibom State.

Aliyu Abdulhameed, the organization’s Managing Director/CEO, speaking through Helen Akula, the Head of NIRSAL Plc’s Akwa Ibom State Project Monitoring, Reporting and Remediation Office (PMRO), noted that NIRSAL Plc’s support of Uyo Women AGC will not only empower the 475 farmers of the AGC but will create job opportunities for many families in the community, and achieve NIRSAL Plc’s mission of creating partnerships between finance and agriculture while achieving food security, creating jobs and enhancing economic growth.

He further stated that through the ABP, the farmers have the privilege of commercial financing, thereby paving the way for a better life. He however reminded the farmers that the input they received that day was not a grant but a loan, hence, it must be paid back for other farmers to also benefit from. He expressed faith in all the farmers that together as a team every kobo loaned will be repaid with ample profit left in the bank for them to enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Desmond Ushe, the Acting Head of the CBN’s Akwa Ibom State Development Finance Office, also speaking at the event, noted that with the integration of NIRSAL’s AGC concept, there will be a significant decrease in risks while boosting the participation of farmers in the ABP. Ushe further solicited for sincerity and commitment from the farmers to compliment that of Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the CBN, whom he said possesses the utmost passion for the ABP and for economic growth in Nigeria through agriculture.

NIRSAL Plc’s regional and nationwide support for farmers under the ABP was showcased at this event. Recent results have shown the progress that NIRSAL has been making in this regard. For instance, in the South-South states of Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta, a total of 2,872 rice, maize and cassava farmers belonging to Uyo Women AGC, Pemo Anegbette AGC, Upalibuisi AGC, Southern Basin AGC, Integrated AGC, Ijeoma Aibiokula AGC, Green Money Initiative AGC and God’s Own AGC are receiving NIRSAL’s support while a total of 44,670 farmers cultivating on 68,771 hectares of land are benefiting in many Nigerian states.

In addition, rice, maize, cassava, sesame and soybean farmers in the Northern states of Nasarawa, Niger, Kogi states and the FCT were recently supported towards an increase in yields and improvement in livelihoods following NIRSAL Plc’s support for their 2020 wet season farming activities also under the ABP.

AGRICULTURE: THE KEY TO A SECURED ECONOMIC FUTURE FOR NIGERIA
Agriculture at present, contributes an average of 21.96 percent of Nigeria's GDP and 24% of the the African continent’s GDP. In monetary terms, for the first quarter of 2020, Nigeria’s GDP was at #16.7 trillion naira and agriculture alone contributed #3.7 trillion. Given the fact that importation into Nigeria is fast dwindling compared to what it used to be in prior years, Nigerians have no choice but to rely on food grown and produced in the country. Agriculture has the capacity to become Nigeria's greatest economic strength as it used to be decades ago, hence, drastic measures need to be taken if agriculture is to reach full potential.

For agriculture to boom as it should in Nigeria, there is the need for the continuous de-risking of the agricultural sector to attract more investments and financing. NIRSAL Plc and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) have made commendable efforts to further de-risk agriculture and increase productivity by entering a partnership to ensure Nigerian farmers receive timely agrometeorological information and advisory services for application in their operations.

The partnership is quite peculiar as it focuses specifically on the drawing up of cropping calendars while leveraging on creation and development of climate-smart programmes that fall within NIRSAL’s Agricultural Commodity Ecological Areas (ACEAs), NIRSAL’s priority commodities, and the proper dimensioning of climatic & atmospheric events from an agricultural standpoint.

The constant diversification in climatic conditions, weather patterns is continually affecting agriculture, bringing about irregularities in the duration of farming seasons and uncertainty in terms of ideal planting and harvesting times. To this effect, the NIRSAL-NiMet partnership aims at staunching this problem by providing farmers with reliable information on weather conditions and other related data that will enhance their seasonal product quality and quantity and protect financiers’ investments in agribusiness.

The importance of this partnership is made all the more glaring as agricultural activities are dependent on time and with even the slightest delays in planting, maintaining or harvesting crops, it could have dire consequences such as reducing yields and revenues significantly.

NIRSAL’s Managing Director/CEO, Aliyu Abdulhameed, while speaking at the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between NIRSAL and NiMet at NIRSAL’s Head Office in Abuja, commented that NIRSAL’s aim in signing the contract was to extend support not just to large scale farmers but also smallholder farmers. This support is not restricted to just financial but extends to training, access to technology, financial advisory services, and at present, the provision of agrometeorological information to help guide them in their farming activities.

According to Mr. Albdulhameed, Nigerian farmers had before this period practiced agriculture based on outdated practices especially without technology and these practices could not deliver the results required to improve their incomes and livelihoods. However, with NIRSAL’s various technology-driven interventions, and now, with the NIRSAL-NiMet collaboration, farmers are being exposed to new methods which they are eagerly adopting because these new ideas have significant positive effects on finances.

NiMet’s Director-General/CEO, Prof. Sani Abubakar Mashi, while also speaking at the event noted that the partnership with NIRSAL was a way to accomplish NiMet’s mission of promoting the service of meteorology in agricultural activities and provision of meteorology consultancy services.
Mr. Abdulhameed further expressed confidence in the new partnership, stating that it would play a big role in ensuring that Nigerian farmers are in a better position to make valid information based decisions as regards planting, harvesting and other agricultural activities affected by the weather.
This, he enthused, would certainly be a good place for NIRSAL to start in realizing its vision of transforming the economy, delivering inclusive growth and positively impacting lives.

Prof. Sani also added that NiMet would provide the necessary support for NIRSAL in order to be as far reaching as possible by leveraging technology in designing and developing strategies for disseminating agrometeorological information to the country’s farmers. He gave the assurance that NiMet would cooperate with NIRSAL to develop specific cropping calendars in line with the NIRSAL’s focus commodities and provide the required agrometeorological information in accordance with identified Agricultural Commodity Ecological Areas (ACEAs).

NIRSAL’s strategy is to focus on commodities with their comparative advantage based on characteristics such as export value, industrial demand and consumer demand. These commodities include; 5 Industrial commodities, that is, Value-added Maize, Soya, Wheat, Cassava and Cotton; 4 Export commodities viz. Value-added Hibiscus, Sesame, Ginger and Shea; 3 Consumer commodities in Rice, Irish & Orange-fleshed Sweet Potatoes and High Iron Beans; 2 Controlled Environment Agricultural Commodities including Fresh Fruits & Vegetables and Aquaculture; Integrated Livestock Commodity; and lastly, Value-added Sugarcane & Cashew.

As the accomplishments and plans of NiMET and NIRSAL have proven, if given the right measure of support; financial and otherwise, agriculture will contribute more than 21.2 percent of Nigeria’s GDP as early as 2021.

Created in 2013, the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL PLC) plays the parts if measuring, re-pricing, redefining, dimensioning as well as sharing the credit risk involved in the agribusiness. A corporation owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria and a $500million Non-Bank Financial Institution, it is aimed at creating an enabling environment for nominal investments and finance in the agricultural sector through fixing agricultural value chains, reducing risk in the agribusiness finance value chain, developing long-term capacity, and institutionalizing incentives for agricultural lending. To implement these, NIRSAL developed five tactical pillars which are: Technical Assistance, Risk Sharing, Incentives, Insurance and Rating.

NIRSAL’s Mission is: “To forge partnerships between agriculture and finance; maximizing the potential of agriculture for food security, job creation and economic growth”.

WHAT IS DONE AT NIRSAL
NIRSAL majors in all things related to the agribusiness. Its areas of speciality ranges from Finance facilitation, Agribusiness project development Agricultural risk management. Leveraging on inventive models and self-generated Tools, Techniques, Methodologies and Partnerships (TTM&Ps), agriculture and agribusiness is improved, agricultural value chains are incorporated, finance and investments are enabled and agricultural risks are managed, this is peculiar only to NIRSAL.

Products and Services offered at NIRSAL include:

• Interest Drawback Scheme borrowers with good reputation are rewarded with a deduction of up to 40% of interest payable, hence, the effective interest rate is reduced.
• NIRSAL Credit Risk Guarantee (CRG) up to 75% principal and interest is repaid to share credit-related losses with financiers and investors.
• Financing Frameworks for Fertilizer, Grains, Mechanization, etc. to fund specific segments of the value chain.
• Bespoke value chain specific Agribusiness Modelling for primary production and incorporated projects.
• Technical Assistance to support and enable development for both agriculture and agriculture finance actors.
• Innovative Index-Based Insurance to protect farmers from losing revenue resulting from unfavourable weather conditions, pest, diseases and a nosedive anticipated yields.
• Comprehensive field monitoring which encompasses nationwide Project Monitoring, Reporting and Remediation services, remote sensing using UAS-based drone monitoring and satellite-based multispectral imaging.

NIRSAL’s Organizational Accomplishments

• Through its numerous products, programs, initiatives and interventions, NIRSAL has significantly enhanced financial and investment growth of over NGN122.7billion to agricultural value chains.

• The NIRSAL Credit Risk Guarantee has singlehandedly catalyzed the sum of NGN104.89billion into the private sector’s various agricultural value chains with deposit money banks, investment houses and other financial institutions inclusive and with an additional NGN160.5billion from portfolio commitments made by commercial banks.

• NIRSAL has ensured that it recorded less than 1% risk crystallization or claims payout through diligent deployment of system-wide Risk management tools, techniques and methodologies.

• NIRSAL in conjunction with 16 State Governments, have begun collaborating on various primary production programmes.

• NIRSAL has also provided training on Good Agronomic Practices to 374 Extension Workers and 700,000 farmers in the agricultural value chain as well as developed Curriculum and trained over 1,538 Middle Management and Agric.

• In the insurance sector, over 200,000 farmers are utilizing Inventive Index-Based Insurance. Eight ( insurance companies have secured approvals from the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) for the deployment of agricultural Insurance products while being supported by NIRSAL as at Q1 2020.

• Through its various interventions astride In the finance and agriculture sectors especially across agricultural value chains, NIRSAL through its interventions has created over 490,000 jobs and positively impacted over 2.9 million lives.

• Currently, NIRSAL is structuring 4 million hectares of farmland covering 8 million smallholder farmers into 16,000 Agro Geo-Cooperatives for improved primary production and to facilitate the flow of finance and investments across agricultural value chains.

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.

How The FIRSTBANK USSD or mCASH Retail Payment works

Have you heard about this USSD payment platform from First bank? The retail Payment is a solution which enables FirstBank customers to receive instant payments from anyone using a simple USSD short-code. The transactions are consummated via a mobile phone technology, using text-based interaction between a mobile device and an application platform or financial host.

Well simply put, this involves the use of a string of numbers to make payments for goods and services using a mobile device. The string of numbers consists of codes, unique IDs and details of the transaction being consummated.

Now, everyone can receive payments with a unique USSD code. Dial *894*99# to begin.
It’s easy, it’s safe, it’s instant. Get coded now! Follow the simple steps to see how it works.

How It Works
• A unique USSD code is generated by the Bank and tied to your account number for receipt of funds.

• To self-enroll and receive payments with the FirstBank USSD code, dial *894*99# and follow the prompts or enroll through the FirstMobile app; click on Merchant Services, USSD and follow the prompts. Alternatively, you can visit any of our FirstBank branches nationwide to enroll.


• Your unique USSD code is generated immediately after enrollment and you are now ready to receive payments from FirstBank and other banks instantly.

• To make payments, customer dials FirstBank USSD syntax 894 your USSD code*Amount# e.g. 894*89400000*5000# for payment from FirstBank; or the mcash syntax *402 your USSD code*5000# e.g. *402*89400000*5000# to make payments from other banks.


• The session returns for the customer/payer to input their 5-digit USSD PIN number

• After successful authentication, debit is passed to customer/payer account and instant credit to receivers account


• Receiver will get a push message on the mobile number registered notifying of the transaction status.

• The fee charged to receiver is graduated based on the value of transaction. Customers/payers however are charged N20 per transaction.

What then are some of the benefits outlined
• Wider acceptance: Anyone can receive payment if cash and debit/credit cards are not available
• Instant settlement to account
• Zero fee on payments below NGN5,000.
• Increased security of payments
• Reliable means of transacting business

Benefits to the Payer
• Convenient way to make payments
• Increased security of payments
• Reliable means of transacting business
• Increased speed of transaction

You see I read this up on the internet and decided to share with you

Today is one that people in Isanlu the headquarter of Yagba East LGA of Kogi would not forget in a hurry. It was reported that heavily armed robbers attacked a police station close to the only commercial bank in the town which was first Bank.

It was gathered that no fewer than 10 police officers including the DPO and 5 passers-by lost their lives but none of the bank staff was hurt.

It also seems like a planned mission by the 18 men squad, insecurity continues unabated despite the pandemic.
May God rest the souls of those that lost their lives�

I hope the Nigerian police are taking this matter seriously and get a strategy on catching the perpetrators.

We indeed commensurate with the family of the deceased. May God comfort them.

Our Promise 
COVID-19 will not slow us down

These are unprecedented times. 

We therefore promise that now more than ever we will remain steadfast, showing up for all Nigerians; showing up for you.

As I reflect on the last two weeks, I am comforted by the resilience of our people. 

I look back at our commitment and contribution to keeping commerce going and enabling businesses. 
Let me share a few observations with you.

Did you know that… 

We have recorded approximately 2.5 million withdrawals amounting to N35bn across our ATMs over the last week alone.

Our larger corporate customers have conducted over 1,700 transactions worth N6.8bn successfully on our e-bills platform in the past week 

Nigerians with FirstBank cards have used them 21 million times to make payments or withdrawals worth N268bn as they rely on us to settle their banking needs   

Our customers have made transfers over 10 million times with a total value of about N615bn naira across our digital channels all in the last week 

We have over 53,000 agents bringing banking services right to your doorsteps who account for more than 5 million transactions with differing values in the last week alone

We are working tirelessly to ensure that your banking transactions continue seamlessly and will remain so; COVID-19 will neither slow us down nor defeat us. 
Expertise and resilience are in our DNA.
We are holding up our side; and now more than ever we will uphold our promise to you to be here for you and put You First.

Email us (firstcontact@firstbanknigeria.com), call your Relationship Manager or your Private Banker for whatever banking service you require as we remain accessible to help you throughout this lock down.

We recognize our role in keeping the engine going, keeping society going and recognize further it is our responsibility to remain at the forefront of this; true to our name and in keeping with the incontrovertible fact that we are fully woven into the fabric of society. Our unparalleled network and total coverage of this nation serve us all well at this time ensuring service across the country via safe alternative channels are available for you 24/7.

Rest assured that we are in this together and together, we will emerge stronger at the end of this period because this too shall pass. 
We have all it takes; your support, patronage and trust. 
We will always put You First.

Dr Adesola Adeduntan 
CEO FirstBank 

#FirstBankSafeXTrusted
#WeStandWithYou 
#WovenIntoTheFabricOfSociety

We dey treat Corona, and this ones are killing people. God airpus [color=#990000][/color]