Minister canvasses more investments in oil palm, cassava productions

Wed, Jul 6, 2022

By editor

2 MIN READ

Africa

By Anthony Isibor.

NIYI Adebayo, minister of industry, trade and investment has called on Nigerian investors to take advantage of the numerous opportunities that are available in cassava and palm oil production.

The minister, who made the call while delivering his address at the ongoing Nigerian Oil and Gas conference on Tuesday, July 5^, 2022 in Abuja, noted that there is a market opportunity of about a billion dollars in oil palm production.

“He added that although Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world, it still imports over 95% of its starch usage. We estimate a market opportunity of about 290 billion dollars from cassava starch production.” he said.

He assured that the country was dedicated to improving its manufacturing and production capacity, with 17 operational economic zones with an additional 4 currently under construction. While 14 of these are engaged in manufacturing, warehousing, logistic services, tourism, food processing, packaging and technology development, the remaining three are dedicated to oil and gas related activities.

The minister, who said that big companies like Dangote Refinery, Samsung Heavy Industries, and many others are actively utilizing these incentives, and urged other Nigerians to do the same.

Part of the strategies as revealed by the minister is that the ministry through the National Automotive Design and Development Council, NADDC, has commenced the development of three automotive industrial parks in Nnewi, Anambra state, Edeh in Osun state, and in Kaduna state to promote the local assembly of vehicles and serve as the gate way of attracting investment into the sector and in the country as a whole.

The minister, who also commended the organisers of the Nigeria Content seminar, acknowledged the important role of the event, especially as the contention about oil and gas in the global context of sustainability, economic effects of its dynamic nature, and the diversification of the energy usage, added that the conference provided such a platform that would facilitate the needed discussions that would help in developing strategies that would aid our sustainable growth and development.

This is even as Nigeria has well over 40 million Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, MSME’s that still depend on gas fuel and diesel fuel for their businesses to survive even though other countries are already diversifying into other sources of cleaner energy.