By Faridat Salifu
The Federal Government has intensified efforts to eliminate leakages in agricultural intervention programmes by deploying the National Identification Number (NIN) to verify genuine farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs across the country.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, disclosed this during a courtesy visit by the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Engr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote, and her delegation in Abuja.
Kyari said the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security had begun deploying NIMC’s identity management infrastructure to authenticate beneficiaries of government agricultural programmes, with the initiative already improving transparency and increasing the participation of women and youths in agriculture.
According to him, the collaboration will leverage the National Identification Number and NIMC’s identity verification platform to ensure that government grants, farm inputs and other interventions reach only genuine farmers.
He said the partnership would help eliminate fraud and leakages while supporting the government’s drive to strengthen food security and achieve food sovereignty.
The minister also disclosed that the Federal Government had restructured its agricultural subsidy programme to encourage self-reliance among beneficiaries.
“It shouldn’t be a subsidy that will go on perpetually. We have a plan whereby beneficiaries receive support in the first year, the assistance reduces in the second year, and by the third year they should be able to stand on their own,” he said.
Kyari explained that the phased approach would allow more farmers to benefit from government interventions while promoting sustainable agricultural production and improving productivity.
Speaking during the visit, the Director-General of NIMC, Engr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote, described agriculture as one of Nigeria’s most strategic sectors because of its role in ensuring food security and driving economic growth.
She said the recently enacted NIMC Act 2026 had strengthened the commission’s mandate as Nigeria’s foundational identity authority, enabling it to provide secure identity verification and digital authentication services to ministries, departments and agencies.
According to her, integrating the National Identification Number into agricultural programmes will improve accountability, reduce fraud, eliminate ghost beneficiaries and ensure public resources are directed to genuine farmers.
She added that the collaboration would also support the Federal Government’s digital transformation agenda by improving service delivery and enhancing the effectiveness of agricultural interventions.
Coker-Odusote reaffirmed NIMC’s commitment to providing trusted identity verification services to strengthen the credibility and transparency of government agricultural programmes.
