…To unlock $3bn annual revenue potential
President Bola Tinubu has ordered an immediate six-month ban on the export of raw shea nuts from the country.
The temporary export restriction aims to curb informal trade that undermines official export channels while increasing processor utilisation within Nigeria’s domestic shea processing facilities.
The move aims to help the country capture higher export value, by promoting processed shea products over raw materials and stabilizing the shea sector through improved market coordination.
According to Government estimates, the enhanced shea value chain could generate approximately $300m annually in the short-term, and boost Nigeria’s agricultural export earnings.
The ban takes effect immediately, and will remain in place for six months while the government works to strengthen domestic processing capacity and establish more robust export frameworks for value-added shea products.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima who announced the president’s directive on Tuesday during a multi-stakeholder meeting at the Presidential Villa, called on the Federal Ministry of Finance and other relevant government agencies to fast-track enforcement.
Speaking further on the directive, the Vice-President said the decision was not “an anti-trade policy, but a pro-value addition policy designed to secure raw materials for our processing factories and enabling industries run at full capacity thereby boosting rural income and jobs for our people”.
He added that the decision “will transform Nigeria from an exporter of raw shea nut to a global supplier of refined shea butter, oil and other derivatives”, just as he said it is about industrialisation, rural transformation, gender empowerment and expanding Nigeria’s global trade footprint”.
On opportunities for job creation and income generation, the Vice-President said, “Nigeria produces nearly 40% of the global shea product, yet we account for only 1% of the market share of $6.5 billion. This is unacceptable. We are projected to earn about $300 million annually in the short term, and by 2027, there will be a 10-fold increase. This is our target”.
VP Shettima explained that the ban was a collective decision involving the sub-nationals and the Federal Government, with clear directions for economic transformation in the overall interest of the nation.
Earlier, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, who explained how the nation stands to benefit from the ban, regretted that despite being the world’s largest producer of shea nuts, contributing nearly 40 percent of global supply, Nigeria captures less than one percent of the multi-billion-dollar global shea economy.
According to the Minister, an assessment showed that over 90,000 metric tonnes of raw shea are lost each year in informal cross-border trade, even as Nigeria’s “processors operate at only 35 to 50 percent capacity despite a national installed capacity of 160,000 metric tonnes”.
Underscoring the enormous potential of the shea trade for Nigeria, the Minister noted that the shea sector “could generate more than 300 million dollars annually in the short-term and position Nigeria to capture a significant share of the projected 9-billion-dollar global market by 2030″.
The Minister further noted that since 90 percent of pickers and processors of shea are women, investment in this value chain would directly translate into women’s empowerment, rural job creation, and sustainable livelihoods.
