‘N116.3b Palm Oil Imported in 2017’

About 450,000 tonnes of palm oil, worth N116.3 billion were imported last year.

Disturbed by this figure, the Senate has urged the Federal Government to outrightly ban palm oil importation.

The Upper Chamber’s decision followed a unanimous adoption of a motion titled: “Urgent Need to Halt the Importation of Palm Oil and its Allied Products to Protect Palm Oil Industry in Nigeria.’’

The Senate, at its plenary, decried the importation of palm produce and expressed concerns that palm kernel and allied palm products importation is a threat to government’s campaign for the diversification of the economy through increased agricultural production and exports.

Nigeria was the world leading producer of palm oil at independence, but unfortunately, Indonesia and Malaysia have overtaken the country and it is now importing palm oil.

The Senate argued that Malaysia, which is widely believed to have collected its first seedlings from Nigeria some decades ago, now exports palm oil products to Nigeria. They urged the government to reverse the trend through investments in the local palm industry and to protect local producers from unnecessary imports.

Acknowledging that Nigeria is endowed with land and manpower to boost palm oil production, the Senate said focus should be directed at returning to pre-independence status in palm oil production.

“We have no business importing palm kernel or any oil palm product from any country. At independence, agriculture was the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy. More than 70 per cent of the population was engaged in agriculture.

“Apart from various food crops produced in the country, Nigeria was a major producer of palm oil/kernel, cocoa, groundnut and rubber.

“But following the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity in the 70s, agriculture was neglected,” the Senate regretted.

Senator Theodore Orji said there was need to establish a special fund to encourage local production of palm oil in the country.

He expressed concern that many palm oil production plants in the country were moribund.

According to him, palm oil used to be a major income earner for the country, but unfortunately many palm trees are dead.