Palmy days ahead
Federal Government’s plan to revive the oil palm industry gives hope If the plan to revive the oil palm industry in Nigeria turns out the way it is projected, it
Federal Government’s plan to revive the oil palm industry gives hope
If the plan to revive the oil palm industry in Nigeria turns out the way it is projected, it will be a defeat of history and restoration of national pride and status. The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, unveiled a long-range plan to tackle what has been a disgrace to our efforts to make food available to our citizens.
The minister says this administration has worked out a strategy. “We have never had a policy before. This is the first time Nigeria will have a document validated and launched by the government and stakeholders to drive, regulate and stimulate the industry,” he said.
This is true. For decades, the nation has watched as its pride of place as the first place in the rankings of oil palms dipped into a nadir. So prime was our position that other countries saw us as the model and visited in order to learn.
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From being the model, we turned into a misery. Yet, administration after administration have done nothing substantial. So, what the Tinubu administration is doing is going forward from the past.
In 2024, it set a Technical Working Group to tease out a plan and move towards realising a dormant strength.
Hence the minister unveiled this strategy. The technical group is headed by Alphonsus Nyang. Hear him: “Oil palm is not just a crop, it is a major industrial raw material that links agriculture to manufacturing. If properly harnessed, it can drive job creation, support smallholder farmers, and strengthen Nigeria’s agro-industrial base,” he said.
The plan is billed as both an agricultural and industrial vision, said the minister, adding that it will move from policy inertia and spur growth across the value chain. And that means it will churn out products in edible oils, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and animal feeds. He envisions self-sufficiency in 2050.
The programme hopes to employ many Nigerians and targets to get two million of its citizens out of poverty. It will go about it with access to high-yielding and climate-resilient planting materials, said the minister and it will enable smallholder farmers to remain central to the plan, given their significant contributions to the sector.
There will be measures to support them, including access to finance, extension services, improved seedlings, processing facilities and market linkages.
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They have set goals for this ambition, and that means implementing it with clear timelines, measurable indicators and transparent accountability mechanisms to ensure effective delivery.
In its old flame, the oil palm industry’s apple of the eye was the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), in now Edo State. Its flory dipped as the industry fell out of favour.
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In order to give it a facelift, it will now transition to The Nigerian Oil Palm Board (NOPB) and it will oversee research, development and innovation in the sector.
They will also be energised with the establishment of the National Oil Palm Council (NOPC), an Oil Palm Development Fund (OPDF), and a National Smallholders Development Fund.
The task ahead is tough. Today, Nigeria’s current production stands at about 1.4 to 1.5 million metric tonnes yearly. They plan to scale it up to nine to 10 million metric tonnes within 25 years. This calls for diligence and methodical implementation of the plan.
This project is part of a broader plan to diversify Nigeria’s economy, and to do that agriculture must be a key part of the vision.
The words of the director of planning and policy coordination at the ministry, Ibrahim Tanimu, are germaine: “The true value of this strategy will not be in its adoption, but in how effectively it is executed to benefit farmers, processors, investors, and the broader economy,” he said.
