Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh is worried over the delay being experienced by some exporters in shipping their goods through the Lagos ports and demanded that concerned authorities should do something about the situation.
Many exporters have complained that their export cargoes have been trapped in containers along Lagos port access roads for months owing to congestion of the roads leading to the facilities and the delay caused by the slow process of trade facilitation in the country.
Speaking against the backdrop of delays experienced by some exporters of cashew nuts in processing their goods, Ogbeh said the situation negates the Federal Government’s desire to diversify the Nigerian economy.
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“It has been brought to our notice that cashew nuts worth 300 million dollars destined for export to Vietnam have been stuck in Lagos. And as we know, they are usually locked in containers at high temperatures and if these cashew nuts remain there for too long, they get spoil and that is extremely disturbing. I t has happened before and this also compromises our desire to become an exporting nation so we are very concerned,” Ogbe said.
He said he has spoken to the Nigerian Ports Authority’s Managing Director, Hadiza Usman and that she agree to make every effort to do something about it.
“We are appealing to them to see what they can do to speedily evacuate this product,’’ he said.
Ogbeh advised exporters to process their cashew nut before export as the processed nuts is worth $10,000 per ton and $1,200 per ton for raw ones.
“We must begin to add value to the commodity by processing it before eventual export.
“So in the next two years we will no longer export raw cashew nuts, but roast the cashew nuts for export.”