*YAZID DANFULANI: THE NEW SHERIFF AT NAIC

By Joseph Onwe

A seasoned corporate administrator and banker, with high proficiency in computing and banking operations, Yazid Danfulani came fully to the limelight of public service as the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry in Zamfara State, under Governor Bello Matawalle, but not before serving in 2013 at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), therefrom gaining profound experiences in banking operations.

Born on 15th April 1986, in Gusau, Zamfara State, Danfulani attended Dan Turai Primary School and Therbow Secondary School, from where he later obtained a degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Arts and Management from the University of Hertfordshire, UK.

On May 21, 2025, Danfulani was appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) for an initial term of four years by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Before this prestigious and well-deserved appointment, Danfulani founded and served as president of the Arewa Development and Empowerment Foundation (ADEF), an organization that caters to and supports orphans and less privileged individuals in society.

Over the years, the expectations of Nigerians have been very high for the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Company (NAIC), deriving benefits from the development of robust insurance products that will cater to the needs of Nigerian farmers, particularly smallholder farmers, women-led agribusinesses, and youth cooperatives on a sustainable basis.

Nigerians also expect an agricultural insurance agency that is efficient and that will make prompt payments of claims to farmers affected by natural disasters, pests, and diseases, and that can expand coverage to deserving but neglected farming communities.

However, part of the identified constraints that had affected the agency and limited its operational efficiency are: irregular interactions with stakeholders, associations, and other farmers so as to understand their needs and develop tailored solutions, and sustained efforts at collaborating with the Federal Government to develop policies and allocate resources that support the growth and development of the agricultural sector.

Others include a sustained developmental innovative framework that will enhance the growth of various insurance products and services aimed at addressing the unique challenges faced by Nigerian farmers, such as climate change and pest infestations, and strategically designed insurance packages that are affordable and accessible to smallholder and medium-scale farmers, while effectively embarking on grassroots mobilization of farmers and communities for enhanced awareness and uptake of agricultural insurance.

Upon assumption of office, Danfulani did not fail Nigerians, as he geared towards ensuring he delivers on their expectations, prioritizing the digitization and streamlining of NAIC’s services, including policy enrolment, claims processing, and farmer outreach, through digital platforms aimed at improving efficiency and transparency, and the strengthening of effective and efficient governance structures, and human capacity development through enhanced institutional reforms, accountability measures, and targeted staff training, which has brought about effective systematic positivity and positive changes into the internal workings of the agency.

Danfulani’s fresh perspective, strong leadership, and absolute commitment to driving positive change in the organization, enhanced by his diverse experiences, has brought new vigor and strategic direction to NAIC, focusing on strengthening agricultural insurance frameworks, expanding access to insurance for farmers, and ensuring the agency plays a key role in Nigeria’s food security strategy.

An objective administrator with immense track records of established metrics and benchmarks of measured progressive and regular assessment, Danfulani adopted strategies of formidable and time-proven results.

His intentional willingness to pivot and adjust course when circumstances change or new opportunities arise has also led to the prioritization of workers’ welfare, taking a holistic view of the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of employees, and recognizing that a happy and healthy workforce is more productive and engaged.
By implementing these strategies, Danfulani has been able to bring in fresh perspectives, strong leadership, and a commitment to driving positive change, ultimately achieving the goals of the renewed hope agenda and making a meaningful impact.

Danfulani’s turnkey multidisciplinary approach to the development of NAIC includes the reengineering of access to agricultural insurance, particularly in rural and underserved communities, to protect farmers against natural disasters, pests, and diseases, and the introduction of up-to-date insurance products and services tailored to the needs of Nigerian farmers, promoting agricultural growth and food security.

Within a very short time of assumption, he has fostered partnerships with government agencies, private entities, and international development bodies to enhance NAIC’s impact and effectiveness, enabling reforms to improve NAIC’s efficiency and customer satisfaction, ensuring the agency plays critical roles in Nigeria’s agricultural transformation agenda, focused on rural development and agricultural growth, and aligning with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda and the nation’s food security strategy.

Indeed, Danfulani’s appointment has been widely applauded, with stakeholders, such as the Nigeria Youth for Good Governance Forum and other bodies, expressing confidence in his leadership qualities, technical expertise, and commitment to national development and describing it as timely and strategic.

An administrator with demonstrable insight into the workings of the agency, Danfulani brought in individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives to foster innovation and creativity, making up a multidisciplinary workforce of employees with the autonomy to make decisions and take ownership of their work, promoting a sense of accountability and motivation, and fostering a consistent culture of continuous training, mentorship, and knowledge-sharing to stay ahead of the curve and adapt to changing circumstances, with a clear vision, mission, and set of objectives, ensuring everyone is aligned and working towards the same outcomes in an ambience of shared value.

As part of the prompt reforms, Danfulani has established strong collaboration and partnerships with government agencies, private entities, and international development bodies to enhance NAIC’s impact and effectiveness, driving and establishing reforms aimed at improving NAIC’s efficiency and customer satisfaction, thereby fostering stronger national cohesion and alignment with the national policy framework for a synergistic effect.

Indeed, his deliberate focus on rural development and agricultural growth, aligning with the various reforms of the federal government, has started yielding results, positively affecting food production, food security, and national security.
Indeed, as Danfulani embarks on this critical mission and crucial national assignment, we wish him success in his endeavors to transform NAIC and contribute to the growth and development of Nigeria’s agricultural sector.

We are confident that with his tested and proven transformational leadership style, we can expect rapid change, a brighter future for farmers in Nigeria, and more specifically a more innovative and digitally driven agricultural industry with a holistic positive impact.
Danfulani is the new sheriff in town and has come with assurance and compelling track records of performance, engineering radical reforms.

Yazid Danfulani is the undertaker who has refused to take the agency to the grave, proving rather that Lazarus is having a date with destiny; coming back alive with a positive Midas touch, and certainly the agency is coming back to life again.

*Onwe is an investment banker writing from Abuja

*Dawn of a New Era: The Emergence of the United Kingdom of Atlantis*

Clement Emmanuel

A new chapter in human history is unfolding with the rise of the United Kingdom of Atlantis, a spiritual and cultural nation dedicated to unity, enlightenment, and global harmony.

Proclaimed under the leadership of Emperor Solomon Uchenna Wining, officially crowned on July 26, 2025, the United Kingdom of Atlantis heralds what many are calling the dawn of a new era — one where the essence of nationhood transcends borders and is instead rooted in shared consciousness and collective purpose.

Born from a vision of spiritual renewal and cultural rebirth, the Kingdom stands as a beacon for those seeking meaning beyond material identity. It calls humanity to awaken to a higher awareness — to remember the sacred connection that binds all people, cultures, and nations together as one human family.

Guided by principles of spiritual growth, cultural preservation, and universal cooperation, the United Kingdom of Atlantis seeks to weave together the wisdom of the ancients with the aspirations of the modern age. Its foundation rests on the belief that enlightenment, compassion, and unity form the true pillars of civilization.

The Kingdom’s structure reflects this vision: a decentralized constitutional monarchy that harmonizes mythic heritage with contemporary governance, inviting citizens of every nation to participate in a collective journey of awakening and transformation.

Supporters describe the movement as a living expression of global citizenship — a space where individuals find belonging, purpose, and spiritual connection. They see in Atlantis not a kingdom of conquest, but a kingdom of consciousness, built upon wisdom, peace, and service to humanity.

Across the world, nations such as India, Egypt, Japan, Peru, and the United Kingdom have long embodied the balance of cultural depth and spiritual devotion. Now, the United Kingdom of Atlantis rises to join this lineage — not as a geographic nation, but as a symbolic and sovereign community of spirit.

International observers recognize the emergence of Atlantis as part of a growing movement toward post-national unity — societies formed not by territory or politics, but by shared values, collective purpose, and the awakening of human potential.

As dawn breaks on this new era, the United Kingdom of Atlantis invites all people to look within, to rise beyond division, and to co-create a world grounded in light, love, and consciousness.

The Age of Atlantis has begun — not beneath the waves, but within the hearts of humankind.

Corruption’s Cost: How Nigeria’s Low CPI Score Is Eating the Country Alive.

By George Omagbemi Sylvester | SaharaWeeklyNG.com

“Score 26. Rank 140. The theft of trust that steals development.”

Nigeria’s corruption problem is no longer a bureaucratic scandal confined to courtrooms and press headlines but a national emergency undermining development, cleaving public trust and cavitating the very institutions meant to deliver health, education and climate resilience. Transparency International’s 2024. Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) places Nigeria squarely among the world’s most challenged countries on corruption, a score of 26 and a global rank of 140 out of 180. Those numbers are not abstract; they are the mirror of policy failure and moral collapse.

The CPI’s global findings are stark, more than two-thirds of countries scored below 50 on a 0 (100 scale and the global average has stagnated at 43) a signal that the world’s anti-corruption effort is stalling at a perilous moment. Transparency International warns that corruption is now playing a “DEVASTATING ROLE” in the climate crisis and in eroding democratic accountability. This means stolen climate funds, hollowed-out public procurement and projects that never reach the people they were meant to protect.

What Nigeria’s CPI Score Really Means.
A score of 26 is not a statistical quirk, it is a diagnosis. It signals pervasive bribery, opaque contracts, weak oversight, politicized law enforcement and a public sector that too often functions for insiders rather than citizens. Corruption imposes costs that compound over time, foreign investors hesitate, domestic entrepreneurs pay bribes instead of hiring staff and poor communities watch roads and clinics rot while funds evaporate. Transparency International’s regional analysis shows Sub-Saharan Africa registering the lowest regional average, a sobering context for Nigeria’s slide.

While anti-graft agencies trumpet recoveries (Nigeria’s EFCC reported nearly $500 million recovered in the past year and thousands of convictions) these victories are tactical, not structural. Recoveries matter, but they do not substitute for transparent contracting systems, public asset registries and the political will to prosecute high-level abuse without selectivity. In other words, seizures do not equal reform.

The Human Toll: Corruption as a Development Kill-Switch.
Corruption is not a victimless crime. It steals from schools, hospitals and climate adaptation projects; it starves farmers of extension services and traps pensioners in unpaid entitlements. Transparency International’s CPI highlights a chilling linkage, countries most vulnerable to climate shocks often have the lowest CPI scores, which means climate funds and adaptation projects are especially at risk of diversion or mismanagement. This translates into lost crops, drowned communities and diminished resilience. When public contracts are awarded to cronies instead of competent providers, project costs balloon and quality collapses.

When licences and permits are sold rather than vetted, environmental and safety standards are ignored. The net result is a country whose public infrastructure (roads, power plants, water systems) is both underbuilt and overcharged.

Institutional Failure, Not Cultural Fate.
To be clear, CORRUPTION in Nigeria is not an inevitability or a CULTURAL TRUISM. It is the predictable outcome of weak institutions, perverse incentives and political tolerance for impunity. Countries that have broken the cycle did so by hardening institutions, independent judiciaries, transparent procurement platforms, beneficial ownership registries, open budget processes and empowered civil society and media. The CPI points to winners and losers, it is a map of policy choices not fate.

Nor is the remedy purely technocratic. It requires political courage. Leaders must stop treating anti-corruption as episodic theatre and start treating it as governance infrastructure. That means firing complicit officials, protecting whistleblowers and backing the rule of law even when it bites powerful interests.

What Must Be Done: A Roadmap for Real Reform.
Public procurement transparency, now. Every major contract (from road works to energy deals) should be published in machine-readable form with project milestones, beneficiaries and independent audits. Open contracting reduces discretion and makes corruption harder to hide.

Beneficial-ownership registries. Companies that win public contracts must reveal real owners. Shell companies and anonymous partners are corruption accelerants; removing their cover is non-negotiable.

Digitize revenues and payments. E-payments, digital tax collection and biometric cash transfers reduce leakages and create audit trails that are difficult for middlemen to manipulate.

Protect and fund anti-corruption institutions. Agencies that investigate and prosecute must be independent, well-resourced and insulated from political interference. Recoveries are hollow if investigations stop short of nets for the powerful.

Empower watchdogs. An independent press, active civil society and access to information laws turn sunlight into accountability. Citizens must be able to demand answers and see project outcomes.

Link climate finance to anti-corruption safeguards. Given Transparency International’s warning that climate finance is vulnerable, every adaptation and mitigation fund must incorporate anti-fraud safeguards, community oversight and transparent disbursement.

Voices That Matter.
Transparency International’s leadership left no ambiguity; François Valérian, Chair, warned that corruption “is a key cause of declining democracy, instability and human rights violations,” while Maíra Martini, CEO, urged urgent action to safeguard climate finance and rebuild trust. Their message is unambiguous and corruption is not a side issue, but a strategic threat to national survival.

Globally respected development economists echo the diagnosis: inclusive, accountable institutions are a prerequisite for sustainable growth. And from within Nigeria, citizens know the score, they see their taxes vanish, their courts stall and their future mortgaged to cronies.

The Takeaway.
Corruption is not an economic footnote; it is an ASSAULT on the social contract. Transparency International’s CPI 2024 is a blistering wake-up call, Nigeria’s score of 26 ought to be intolerable to every citizen and a political emergency to every leader. The country cannot borrow its way out of rotten governance; nor can it tinker at the margins while elites privatize public goods.

Reform is hard. It will be resisted by those who PROFIT from OPACITY. Though the alternative (continued decay of institutions, stolen climate funds, faltering public services and a citizenry losing faith in the state) is worse. Nigeria needs structural change, transparency baked into procurement, ownership revealed, institutions empowered and civic oversight strengthened.

As this CPI makes plain, the cost of inaction is not measured only in lost naira; it is measured in failed hospitals, empty classrooms, drowned farmlands and the slow erosion of democratic rule. That is a price Nigeria can no longer afford.