Investors commit to €300m oil palm production, policy needed to galvanize industry value chain

President, National Palm Producers Association of Nigeria, NPPAN, Amb Alphonsus Inyang, has said that 15 investors have so far made over €300 million in oil palm plantation concessioning, replanting, processing of the palm trunk, palm wine, and others. According to him “as we have said, those investors, 15 of them from Europe and Malaysia, have made investment commitments of over 300 million Euros, and some of them have already started coming back to continue work on those things. I am very much aware that they have made some submissions on the areas they want Private public partnership. Some of them want concessioning, replanting, processing of the palm trunk, palm wine, and many other things, while some of them have come back, as of last week, some of them have come back and they are partnering with some state officials”, he added.
He said that Nigeria needs National Oil Palm Policy and Strategy Roadmap that will galvanize the industry and attract more investors. Speaking to newsmen on the need for the policy to come on board, Inyang said the current state of the oil palm industry demands such policy, which would make it easy for industry players and also open a new vista for the country’s non-oil sector that would generate huge foreign exchange revenue and create millions of Nigerians millionaires based on the oil palm value chain and strategic role it plays. He said “by the end of March 2025, we should be able to come out with this policy. We are going to carry out massive and broad spectrum consultations with the sub-national governments, with agencies of federal and state levels, with all critical stakeholders. This document is working on highlighting these several investment opportunities. By the technical working group to come up with a strong document that would be accepted by all as our own strong policy document. The recommendations for the National Council on Oil Palm Development would be made from that document, and we expect the development policy on oil palm to be spelt out there within the household model as the simplest way of getting this across to our rural households, thereby, spreading prosperity on the streets of our rural areas.”
Meanwhile, the NPPAN boss said there are investors who are already working with oil palm farmers in Cross River State, therefore, if the policy is out it would greatly impact positively on what they are currently doing in the oil palm value chain. “It will be a kind of a catalyst to that investment. Those investors are already in engagement with the state government and other critical stakeholders. But this document will provide a guide for all investors in the value chain, and this document will also spell out all the critical existing value chains that are involved in the oil palm sector. Like the different types of biomass. Remember we can make fertilizer out of it, disposable plates and cups, furniture, building materials, we can make a whole lot from these.”