Nigeria spends $500m annually on palm oil importation – CBN | Nairalaw

The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr Godwin Emefiele
on Monday said that over five hundred million dollars was being
spent annually on importation of palm oil.

Emefiele said this at a stakeholders’ meeting on the Palm Oil
Value Chain held in Abuja.

The meeting was attended by the Governors of Akwa Ibom, Edo and
Abia. Also, the managers of Dangote Farms, Flour mills, United Food
Industries and Dufil Frima Foods Plc, among others were at the
meeting.

Emefiele said that it was a sad fact that the country was still
importing palm oil in spite sufficient arable land in the
South-South and South-East regions of the country to farm it.

He recalled that in the late 50’s and 60’s, Nigeria was not only
the world’s leading producer of palm oil, but it was also the
largest exporter of palm oil, accounting for close to 40 per cent
of the global market share.

He said that right now, Malaysia and Indonesia were the top
producers of palm oil and Nigeria the fifth, after getting their
seeds and learning how to cultivate oil palm from Nigeria.

“This conversation is indeed important as it forms part of our
overall strategy to reduce our reliance on crude oil imports,
diversify the productive base of our economy, create jobs and
conserve our foreign exchange.

“Despite placing oil palm in the forex exclusion list, official
figures indicate that importation of palm oil had declined by about
40 per cent from the peak of 506,000 Metric Tonnes (MTs) in 2014 to
302,000 MTs in 2017.

“This indicates that Nigeria still expends close to 500 million
dollars on oil palm importation annually and we are determined to
change this narrative.

“We intend to support improved production of palm oil to meet
not only the domestic needs of the market, but to also increase our
exports in order to improve our forex earnings,” he said.

To this end, Emefiele said that all the state governors in
South-South and South-East, Nigeria had agreed to provide at least
100,000 hectares each for large scale oil palm farming.

He said that with the help of the state governments, Nigeria
could reach self-sufficiency in palm oil between 2022 and 2024 and
ultimately overtake Thailand and Columbia to become the third
largest producer over the next few years.

“As part of our Anchor Borrowers Program (ABP) and Commercial
Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS), the CBN will work with large
corporate stakeholders and small holder farmers to ensure
availability of quality seeds for this year’s planting season.

“We will also ensure the availability of agro-chemicals in order
to enable improved cultivation of palm oil.

“We will also work to encourage viable off taker agreements
between farmers and large-scale palm producing companies.

” Loans will be granted through our ABP and CACS programs at no
more than 9 per cent per annum to identified core borrowers,” he
said.

The CBN governor reiterated that the restrictions earlier placed
on the importation of textiles and other ready-made clothing was
for the good of the economy.

He said that in due course, the CBN would introduce polices to
address challenges in the cocoa, cassava, beef/cattle ranching,
dairy and fish sectors.

” Soon every region of our beloved country will feel the
positive impact of our intervention in the agricultural sector.

“These efforts we hope will not only enable us to conserve our
foreign exchange, but also create jobs on a mass scale.

“As these measures begin to bear fruits, we are very optimistic
that our states will become more economically viable,” he said.

Also, the Governor of Edo, Mr Godwin Obaseki, said the state was
currently cultivating about 70,000 hectares of land of oil
palm.

He also spoke on the need to revive the moribund Nigerian
Institute For Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), in Benin to improve
investment in research and production of quality oil palm
seeds.

“We should understand that for meaningful investment to come
into the oil palm industry, we have to think of other incentives to
encourage manufacturers to turn oil palm to other things.

“What I mean is that palm oil can be used to manufacture
margarine, soaps, toothpaste and other things.

” We must also think about how to create incentives for those
who are currently in the business to explore all the uses of palm
oil to create job opportunities for our people,” he said.

Also, the Governor of Akwa Ibom, Mr Udom Emmanuel, spoke on the
need to educate oil palm small holder farmers on the use of
improved seedlings as a way to improve output.

ICPC to Seize Properties of Shehu Yar’adua Foundation, Other
Firms over Tax

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences
Commission (ICPC) has moved to seize plots of land and buildings
which cumulative value has been put at N4.8 billion from 30
companies operating in Nigeria.

The property to be seized includes 22.9 hectares of undeveloped
land, one plaza, and a block of six two-bedroom flats located in
Wuse, Zone One, Abuja belonging to Shehu Musa Yar’adua Foundation,
Vibrant Issuance Brokers, Millard Fuller Foundation, Maibuhu Farm
and Construction Limited, Gabcon Enterprises Limited and a host of
others.

In the course of investigation, the alleged owners of the
properties disclaimed ownership.

The move to seize the properties spread around Abuja, followed a
petition to ICPC by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS),
accusing the companies of defaulting in tax payment to the tune of
N288.2 million.

Section 37 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences
Act 2000 empowers ICPC to seize assets alleged to be subject of an
offence under the law while Section 48 authorises it to apply to a
High Court for an order of forfeiture within 12 months of the date
of seizure.

Signed:

Mrs. Rasheedat A. Okoduwa, mni

Spokesperson for the Commission