Rivers govt blamed for crash of oil palm industry

…as NEPC takes action to boost export

The plan by the Federal Government to boost oil palm industry in some key states was said to have hit the rocks in Rivers State. This is said to have caused a crash of the oil palm industry in the hydrocarbon headquarters.

Now, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) is seen to reactivate the oil palm industry to make it an export product to earn foreign exchange.

The outcry was rendered at a workshop by the South-South Regional Office of NEPC to strengthen oil palm export clusters for global competitiveness and airfreighting held in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

Erasmus Chukunda, the Rivers State Chairman of the Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria (OPGAN), who has been in the oil palm industry for decades, said the plan to boost oil palm industry in 2018 got stock in Rivers State.

He said the FG had asked selected States to provide 100 hectares of land each to form the base of a huge loan package from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to help meet a one million metric tons per year (1mmtpy) shortfall in palm oil consumption.

He said the CBN was providing $600m per year to support import of palm oil but that the FG frowned at it, thus prodding the apex bank to seek local production.

Read also: NEPC urges farmers in oil palm value chain to form clusters to boost businesses

Chukunda, who was Director-General of the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce (PHCCIMA) for many years said Rivers State then did not do much but later provided 10,000 ha.

To the chagrin of the over 6,000 OPGAN members in the State, the paltry 10,000ha was never handed to the Association to start massive growing of oil palm plantation as the Federal Government envisaged.

He said the members went ahead to secure $700m from the CBN and used it to set up some plantations, 10 milling clusters, etc.

He said: “Let the Rivers State government hear it, that they did not do anything to help oil palm industry in the CBN and FG scheme. “Rivers State was number one in oil palm industry, today, Edo State has taken over just the way Nigeria fell off the first spot to Indonesia. Rivers State has fallen off because the state for years has not been responsive.”

He however said he remained hopeful now that Governor Sim Fubara is back to seat. His optimism seemed to get some lift when Joe Johnson, the newly assigned Commissioner of Commerce and Industry, who was commissioner of information and communications until the suspension, said to the large audience that the State Government is keen to act.

Chukunda said how much he believed Johnson, thus: “We are sure that by the return to the office, our Governor HE Siminalayi Fubara, will attend to OPGAN needs as indicated by the new Commissioner for Commerce and Industry in his goodwill message at the just concluded Nigerian Export Promotion Council, South-South Regional Office One Day Workshop on “Strengthening Oil Palm Export Clusters for Global Competitiveness and Airfreighting” in Port Harcourt.

In his welcome remarks, Benedict Itegbe, Regional Coordinator, South-South Regional Office of NEPC, said the workshop was basically to set agenda. “The workshop will focus on enhancing the capacity of stakeholders in the oil palm export value chain, understanding quality certifications, market access requirements, and exploring strategies for engaging international buyers.”

Itegbe, an architect, said the workshop was to help reroute export point to Port Harcourt International Airport. He said Lagos airport for now accounts for over $150m worth of goods per year now, while Port Harcourt airport does about 5% of that.

He also said the event was to also unveil the partnership between NEPC and Fidelity Bank. “We are working to strengthen non-oil export in the south-south. It will lead to a communique that would point to a roadmap for export boost in the zone.”

He later presented a paper on marketing strategies around the world.

In his goodwill message, Dogara Sagbere, Rivers State chairman, Nigerian Association of Small, Medium Enterprises (NASME), said NEPC is the most active government agency they know. “If all other agencies were to work like them. NEPC facilitated a grant to us three years ago, and it helped our members a lot.”

Speaking online, Nana Wanjua, Chief Gender Officer, Pan Africa Chamber of Commerce in Ethiopia office, said she was a real estate expert practitioner and a hotelier. She told women participants to be more enthusiastic and study harder, saying she failed at a point because she did not train well in it.

“Now I am back to studying and I urge all women to always study. Create work-life-balance or work-life integration. I now travel with either my husband or with my two sons. Also create giving to others and to humanity as a way of life.”