The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has sought a partnership with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) to secure funds for the engagement of inmates in farming activities.

The minister said with the rising budgetary cost of feeding inmates, NIRSAL should partner with the interior ministry to ensure that inmates produce their food.

According to a statement by the ministry’s Director of Press, Ajibola Afonja, Tunji-Ojo spoke when the management of NIRSAL, led by its Managing Director, Abbas Masanawa, visited him in Abuja on Thursday.

The statement quoted Tunji-Ojo as saying “NIRSAL can do a lot of good to the Nigeria Correctional Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. With the rising budgetary cost in the feeding of inmates,  NIRSAL can partner with the interior ministry to secure funds for the engagement of inmates for farming activities to produce their food.”

In his remarks, NIRSAL MD explained that the organisation “is a non-bank financial institution wholly owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria to redefine dimension, measure, reprice, and share agribusiness-related credit risk in Nigeria.”