$250m oil seeds investment threatened by exports of soya beans – OSPAN
Oil Seeds Processors Association of Nigeria (OSPAN) - an umbrella body of processors of oil seeds in Nigeria has disclosed that its $250 million oil seeds investment is being threatened by exports of soya beans.
A statement signed by Sama’ila Barau Maigoro, President and Mr Hule Idyerkas, Vice President respectively and obtained by Daily Trust on Sunday in Lafia on Wednesday, said the export of soya beans should be banned from Nigeria to encourage value addition.
According to the statement, if processed, the crude soya oil would be further processed for local consumption which will in turn stabilize the price of vegetable oil locally.
The statement read in part, “Our members are investors in large, medium and small-scale processing of Nigerian grown Arable Oil Seeds into high quality edible vegetable oil and high-quality oil extracts for industrial use. Presently, our combined installed capacity per annum is well over three (3) million metric tons with a total investment portfolio of about $250m.”
“We are currently one of the leading employers of labour in the agricultural sector: providing over 200,000 direct jobs to both skilled and unskilled labour (mostly youths and women) and millions of indirect jobs to farmers and other actors in the value chain.
“We want the Tinubu administration and Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, to know that most of our factories and processing facilities are closed down due to unavailability of raw materials, especially soya beans,” he added.
The statement further added that in 2022, Nigerian farmers produced about 680,000 metric tonnes of soya beans, but instead of selling to Nigeria processors, they preferred the export window due to higher earnings made from foreign exchange. This situation is dire and poses a very significant threat to the Nigerian economy because it puts the effort of government to diversify the economy, the collective investments of patriotic Nigerians and the livelihoods of many Nigerians that are employed and engaged in the arable oil seed sector at risk.
Sama’ila Barau Maigoro, however, maintained that Nigeria is not one of the net producers of soya beans in the world and this new trend of exporting the produce is presently causing a severe imbalance because it is hampering their processing capacity as well as subjecting domestic users of the oil and other extracts to the pains of procuring them at very high cost. “OPSAN pleads for a quick intervention and immediate action by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration on the matter.”
OSPAN appealed to the administration to impose a temporary ban on the exportation of soya beans from Nigeria until primary production in ramped up to sufficiently meet our domestic requirements, noting that “temporary ban if implemented, would allow us stabilise the supply-demand dynamics of soya beans, ensure its availability for local processors, and safeguard investments.”
He explained that it would support the growth and development of the oil seed processing industry in Nigeria, ultimately nurturing economic prosperity and employment generation.