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WAACSP Upgrades Virtual Assistant Program To Professional Certification

West Africa Association of Customer Service Professionals (WAACSP) has announced the upgrade of its Virtual Assistant Fundamentals program to a full professional certification.

According to the Head of Administration, WAACSP, Christian Anozie, the development marks a significant milestone in the organization’s commitment to providing high-quality education and training in customer service.

The programme focuses on practical skills development, ensuring that participants are equipped with the knowledge and expertise needed to excel as virtual assistants.

The certification covers various tools, applications, and software used in virtual assistance, enabling participants to stay up-to-date with industry trends.

The programme emphasized best practices for effective virtual assistance, including communication, time management, and problem-solving skills.

WAACSP’s decision to upgrade the Virtual Assistant programme to a professional certification demonstrates its dedication to excellence in customer service education.

The organization has a proven track record of delivering globally recognized certifications, with over 5,000 professionals certified since 2016.

The Professional Certification in Virtual Assistant will provide individuals with the skills and knowledge needed to build sustainable careers in customer service.

By obtaining this certification, professionals can enhance their career prospects and contribute to the growth and development of their organizations.

Leadway Assurance Partners With AGRA To Strengthen Climate Resilience Of 21,000 Smallholder Farmers Through ‘Pay At Harvest’ Crop Insurance Scheme

Leadway Assurance Partners with AGRA to Strengthen Climate Resilience of 21,000  Smallholder Farmers through 'Pay at Harvest' crop Insurance Scheme - Brand  Mirror
In a significant step towards deepening agricultural resilience across Nigeria, Leadway Assurance Company Limited has entered into a strategic partnership with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) through a $399,900 grant initiative to implement the “Building Farmers’ Resilience through Innovative Insurance Models and Financial Instruments” project.
AGRA is an African institution supporting inclusive agricultural transformation and sustainable food systems. This three-year initiative, running from March 2025 to March 2028, aims to transform the livelihoods of 21,000 smallholder farmers (SHFs) across Kaduna, Nasarawa, and Niger States.
Climate change continues to escalate risks for Nigerian farmers, manifesting in unpredictable rainfall, prolonged droughts, extremely high lethal temperatures and increased crop failure. This volatility threatens national food security/systems and undermines years of agricultural progress. Recognising the scale of this challenge, Leadway Assurance has taken a bold step forward, championing innovative risk management strategies tailored to the realities of rural agriculture.
At the heart of the new intervention is the “Pay at Harvest” insurance scheme, an innovative premium collection model that enables farmers to defer insurance payments until after harvest, when liquidity is more assured. This approach lowers the financial barriers to insurance enrollment, increases uptake among SHFs, and embeds resilience within the agricultural value chain.
“Pay at Harvest” empowers farmers to protect their livelihoods without upfront costs, ensuring they can bounce back from climate-related losses and secure credit, inputs, and market access with greater confidence.
This new grant builds upon Leadway Assurance’s successful three-year partnership with Heifer International, under which over 60,000 smallholder farmers benefited from the “Pay at Harvest” model.
The current AGRA-funded and sponsored project goes a step further by offering a more holistic package, including access to off-takers and market linkages, extension services and climate-smart agronomy support, digital mapping of farmlands for enhanced monitoring and accountability, timely early warning systems for extreme weather events, scalable farmer education programs to promote financial literacy and climate-smart practices, and expanding public-private collaborations for unlocking innovative finance, including green climate finance, for crop insurance.
To deliver on this ambitious vision, Leadway Assurance will work alongside expert partners, Verdure Climate – supporting climate risk analytics, PULA – offering tech-enabled agricultural insurance solutions, Rural Country Integrated Services Ltd. – field implementation partner, National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) and Heifer International – unlocking catalytic finance for SHFs.
By 2028, the initiative also aims to facilitate $10 million in agricultural credit, launch 6 new financial products tailored to smallholder farmer needs and disseminate 4 knowledge products to drive broader sectoral adoption.
Commenting on the initiative, Head, Agribusiness, Leadway Assurance, Mr. Fatona Ayoola described the partnership with AGRA as a decisive moment for agricultural risk management in Nigeria. “By bringing bespoke parametric insurance solutions to underserved communities who are vulnerable to the negative impact of climate change and aligning them with broader value chain interventions, we are not only protecting livelihoods but also rebuilding trust in farming as a viable business for rural Nigerians.”
According to Dr. Rufus Idris, Country Director at AGRA,“For Nigeria’s agricultural transformation and food security efforts to succeed amid increased climate uncertainty, insurance needs to work better in helping smallholder farmers protect their farmlands and crops from climate change shocks (flood, draught, pest and diseases, etc.). Hence, this project aims to help build on a proven model and catalyze resources for a wider access to insurance and adoption by smallholder farmers”.
Mefor Urges Legislation Against Use Of Industrial Oxygen In Anambra Hospitals

Anambra State Commissioner for Information, Dr Law Mefor, has stressed the need for legislation to stop use of industrial oxygen in hospitals.
Speaking recently during his courtesy visit to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Anambra State Oxygen Production Plant, Lady Nwamaka Arinze, at her office in Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (COOUTH), Awka, Mefor expressed displeasure over the continued use of industrial oxygen in hospitals instead of pure medical oxygen, pointing out that it’s a very dangerous thing.
According to him, “since it’s proved that industrial oxygen is not good for human consumption, it should be a legislative issue. There should be a law against it; providing a clear punishment. This is because without legislation, our people will still go for what they consider cheap regardless of the final outcome.
“That is one thing I noticed in the South East. They go into wealth without morality. It’s a very dangerous thing. Every penny must be earned in a decent way. You don’t have to put people’s lives in the line because you want extra or quick money. I have seen it everywhere. Everywhere you turn, you see that high premium is placed on money over and above human lives. Ọgbọ Ọgwụ was recently closed by NAFDAC for fake, expired and banned drugs.
“The only way to really curb or contain this is through legislation. And of course, it doesn’t stop at legislation. We also need to enforce the law because sometimes, the problem is not even the absence of law but enforcement. And enforcement in Anambra State has its own challenges,” he said.
The commissioner assured that the Ministry of Information will partner the office to sensitise Ndị Anambra on the dangers of using industrial oxygen in hospitals.
Earlier, the MD/CEO, Anambra State Oxygen Production Plant, Lady Arinze, disclosed that she has the mandate of Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo to ensure that pure medical oxygen is made available, accessible and affordable to Ndị Anambra, even as she decried the use of industrial oxygen in hospitals.
“I thank God we have been producing pure medical oxygen. We always have standby oxygen in case of emergency. The challenge we are having is trying to educate some doctors who I know that they know that industrial oxygen is not good for human consumption.
“You know here in Nigeria, they only do autopsy for corpses in controversy. For others, if they are given industrial oxygen and they die, you still pay the doctor before you carry the corpse. It is ours to build and not to destroy. It is ours to save lives in any little way we can,” she said.