No fewer than 10,000 civil servants of Kogi government will benefit from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Agribusiness Retirement Scheme, an official has said.
Mr Joseph Idoko, the Consultant, Alternative Retirement Investment Scheme (AARIS) made the disclosure, while speaking to newsmen in Lokoja on Monday.
Idoko said the CBN had already approved N10 billion for the programme, which he described as an offshoot of the banks’ Anchor Borrowers Scheme.
The AARIS consultant said the scheme was specifically an indirect cluster farming investment for the workers, saying, “it has oil palm and its value chain as mandate crop”.
According to him, the broad objectives of the programme designed under the CBN real sector support facilities is the diversification from oil to non-oil sectors and the provision of retirement investment farms for workers.
Idoko said that the scheme would grant a loan of N1 million to each participant at nine per cent interest rate, payable in nine years after a two-year moratorium.
“It is designed as a retirement investment scheme for government workers and workers in the organised private sector, it has full cover of the Leadway Insurance.
“The scheme is also planned to enroll the participating workers in the National Health Insurance Scheme under the Organised Private Sector,” he said.
He said that beneficiaries would cut across ministries, departments and agencies as well as staff of the state judiciary and higher institutions.
Idoko said that land for the 10,000 hectres oil-palm estate had been provided at Amaka in Igalamela-Odolu Local Government Area.
“The idea is for government workers to retire into a particular business so that they can still earn money after active service,” he said. (NAN)
