President Muhammadu Buhari has attributed Nigeria’s rising prominence as Africa’s fertilizer powerhouse to the implementation of the right policies by the present administration.
The president made this known while receiving the Executive Committee of the Fertilizer Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) at the State House, Abuja on Tuesday.
‘‘With our over 70 blending plants operating, Nigeria is on its way to becoming Africa’s fertilizer powerhouse. And with our mega Urea production facilities, Nigeria is definitely a global player in the Urea space,’’ he said.
The president said that this remarkable achievement in a very short period of time had ensured a steady flow of investments to the sector from the private sector; bringing prosperity to millions of Nigerians and good returns to the investors.
He expressed delight that the era of a persistent shortage of fertilizer in the country was now a thing of the past, commending FEPSAN for partnering with the government in the very patriotic backward integration project of enhancing the agricultural value chain.
The president used the occasion to recount steps taken by his administration to limit overreliance on imports, ensure the availability of the commodity and achieve self-sufficiency in food production in the country.
‘‘When this administration came to office in 2015, our focus was on three key areas; Security, Economy, and tackling corruption.
‘‘For every nation to have peace and prosperity, its economy must be inclusive.
‘‘For Nigeria, a predominantly agrarian nation, having an inclusive economy meant we needed to prioritize the enhancement of our agricultural value chain.
‘‘We quickly identified the persistent shortage of fertilizer as a key reason for the low yields experienced on our farms.
‘‘This historical scarcity of fertilizer was due to our over-reliance on imports and the inefficient participation of the government in distributing this essential commodity to the farmers.
‘‘As a government, it was very clear to us that these practices needed to change. Nigeria is naturally blessed with most of the raw materials needed to produce fertilizers.
‘‘Nigeria has all the skills and manpower required to convert these raw materials to fertilizers. With the right enabling environment, Nigeria has entrepreneurs who are ready to invest in the sector.
‘‘So we went to work. And as the Chairman of FEPSAN mentioned in his remarks, the rest is now history,’’ he said.
According to him, a key indicator of the present government’s successful policies is the fact that the country has no shortages of fertilizers during the global COVID lockdowns.
‘‘Today, I am pleased to hear your assurances that we will not have any shortages in Nigeria because of the Eastern European conflicts that have impacted the global fertilizer trade.
“All these trends indicate our backward integration policy was the right policy,’’ he added.
While appreciating those who have invested and continue to invest in the sector, the president said:
‘‘Through these investments, you are double blessed as you are making profits and bringing prosperity to millions of Nigerians working in the agricultural value chain.’’
In his remarks, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said fertilizer remained a key input to achieving food security and in the realization of this, the apex bank had continued to place great importance on its availability and accessibility by farmers to improve yield, productivity, and ultimately, output.
He highlighted some of CBN’s interventions, including the Real Sector Support Facility, Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme, National Food Security Programme, and the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI).
Emefiele revealed that a total of over N114.09 billion had been disbursed to support the fertilizer industry in the last five years.
He explained that the interventions were long-term loans at concessionary interest rates to support domestic blending and distribution across the country.
According to Emefiele, the CBN is working with majors in the industry, such as Dangote and Indorama, to ensure that they sell Urea at discounted prices to the blending plants to ensure that the prices of fertilizer are moderated in the market.
‘‘The Bank will equally work with the blending plants to ensure that the blended fertilizers are made available to end-user farmers at affordable prices,’’ he said.
In CBN Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, the CBN governor said the bank had disbursed N941.26billion to 4.2million smallholder farmers cultivating 21 agricultural commodities on 5.4million hectares of land across the country.
He added that for the 2021 wet season program, the CBN disbursed N193.59 billion to 923,699 farmers cultivating seven commodities on 1.16 million hectares of land.
According to Emefiele, the CBN currently has a balance of stock of fertilizer from the last planting season under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme to the tune of 1.95 million bags and has committed additional 2.6 million bags for use during the 2022 program.
Also speaking, FEPSAN president, Thomas Etuh thanked President Buhari for inaugurating two facilities by members of the association- Barbedos blending plant in Kaduna and the Dangote Urea plant in Lagos- within two months.
‘‘Mr. President, FEPSAN’s success is not only evident by the number of factories we commission, but also by the many pyramids of rice, maize, and other crops you have been inspecting across the country.
‘‘Mr. President, before you created the PFI Initiative in 2016, Nigeria’s fertilizer production base was almost zero. We had less than seven companies producing at 10 percent of their installed capacity. Nigeria’s Urea output was reported at less than 300,000 tons,’’ he said.
While citing recent data from a fertilizer working group that reviews and validates consumption data spanning over 12 years, the FEPSA president said Nigeria recorded its highest consumption of fertilizers at 1.8 million tons per annum in 2021.
According to him, the association is ready, willing, and available to ensure that fertilizers are available in all parts of the country for the 2022 wet season.
