Economy
Nigerians Deserve Quality Agro Products—Minister
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Audu Ogbeh, has disclosed that Nigerians deserve good, safe and quality agro products for consumption.
Speaking recently during his keynote address at the south west nationwide advocacy on agricultural quality control and standardisation in Lagos, the Minister charged farmers and agro-processors dealers to mainstream the issue of food safety in its agricultural production and as well endeavour to meet world standards and international best practices.
He noted that, “There is no time than now to mainstream food safety into agricultural production if we want to really diversify our economy using agriculture as veritable tool and have our own share of the export at both regional and international markets.
“Nigerians also deserve good, safe and quality agro-outputs for consumption and should be globally accepted like their counterparts across the globe.”
Mr Ogbeh, who was represented by the coordinating Director, Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services, Dr Vincent Isegbe, noted that previous efforts of the Ministry had hitherto been geared towards increased cultivation and output per unit area with less emphasis on quality and standards of agro-produce, stating that the ban on dry beans from Nigeria by the European Union had now shifted attention to standards and quality in order to avoid incidences of communicable diseases in the country more so to earn foreign earnings that will boost the Nigerian economy.
He said the nationwide advocacy on quality control and standardization of agricultural commodities was to target farmers and other stakeholders along the food value chain so as to inculcate the culture of agro-quality among key policy makers in both public and private institutions and to recognise the essential role of food safety in the production, preparation, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, storage, sale of food and food products as well as agro produce export promotion.
The Minister maintained that as part of government’s initiative to aid aggregation, certification standardisation and traceability, commodities certification centres would be established across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
He commended stakeholders for their efforts in stemming the negative trend and for being agents of change towards quality consumption and zero rejection of Nigeria’s agro-produce.
Governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwumi Ambode, in his opening speech said the state would continue to align itself with the Federal government’s vision of making agriculture a revenue base of the country.
The Governor, who was represented by his Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Oluwatoyin Suarau, highlighted several initiatives and achievements recorded by the state to grow the nation’s agricultural sector which include the state’s collaboration with Kebbi State on rice processing Lake Rice, empowerment scheme; fisheries and aquaculture development; Lagos State coconut development authority among others.
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechkwu Enelamah, who was represented by the Director, Federal Produce Inspectorate, Mr Akabueze Michael, urged stakeholders at the workshop to leverage the knowledge gained to achieve zero reject of the country’s agro-produce.
In a good will message, Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Hadizah Bala Usman, who was represented by Mr Innocent Umar, said her organisation was ready to assist in transforming Nigeria from dependence on oil dollar to agro-Dollar, adding that NPA had dedicated some port terminals in Lagos such as Ikorodu and Lily pond terminals as export terminals.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
