As a way of reducing smuggling of agricultural products in Nigeria, Sanni Dangote, president, Nigeria AgriBusiness Group (NABG), has advised the Federal Government to introduce stiff tariffs and levies against groups that pose as threat to our local agricultural production.
It would be recalled that recently, Tin-Can Island Command of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) intercepted a 20ft container of “ready to eat foods” like egusi soup, yollof rice, ogbono, yam porridge, etc, imported from India.
Dangote gave this advice while responding to questions from newsmen at the NAGB second annual general meeting on Tuesday in Abuja.
“What is most important is to bring in the right policies that will intensify local productivity, lower interest rate, available funding, intensify the local industries to produce their own products, bringing in development tariffs and levies against those groups that are seen making problems for our local capacity building so that we can have our own local capacity.
“Government should look at it as a necessary area to encourage. Once we can do that, it will be difficult to smuggle in agricultural products because we have the local capacity.
“We are bringing in energy in a few months or year, I believe some of these products like rice, maize and other products will definitely have an edge. Once that is done the issue of smuggling will fizzle out,” Dangote said.
He said the Bank of Industry and the Bank of Agriculture were the most important forces in the development of agriculture.
“We proposed a segment where government will fund a capitalised bank of agriculture and remain a specialised bank of agriculture where it will provide funding for primary agric produce for long period, medium period. Also Bank of Industry will work with them in the medium risk area where it is agro processing.
“We can leave our commercial bank to go and do import funding for equipments, and such input where they think they can get their money in the next six months or one year. That is where their expertise is. Trying to bring them into the agribusiness will be a failure because their mindset is not tuned to primary production and processing.
“There is no need to force our marriage together. The way the commercial banks are structured they are not meant for agriculture platform. What we have designed at the NABG is to segment low risk and high risk, medium risk area.
High risk is not that it is risky, but it is the primary production of agric produce. The medium risk is the agro processing. Low risk is about importing fertilizer and some equipment, which is for agricultural purposes,” he said.
