The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Godwin Emefiele has said that over five hundred million dollars was being spent annually on importation of palm oil.
Emefiele said this at a stakeholders’ meeting on the Palm Oil Value Chain held in Abuja.
The meeting was attended by the Governors of Akwa-Ibom, Edo, Abia and the managers of some agricultural firms.
Emefiele said that it was a sad fact that the country was still importing palm oil in spite sufficient arable land in the South-South and South-East regions of the country to farm it.
He recalled that in the late 50’s and 60’s, Nigeria was not only the world’s leading producer of palm oil, but it was also the largest exporter of palm oil, accounting for close to 40 per cent of the global market share.
He said that right now, Malaysia and Indonesia were the top producers of palm oil and Nigeria the fifth, after getting their seeds and learning how to cultivate oil palm from Nigeria.
