By Nse Anthony-Uko, Business & Economy Editor
The fact that Nigeria needs to diversify its economic base away from the monocultural dependence on crude oil is no longer news.
One of the things that successive administrations of the Federal Government have preached passionately and consistently is diversifying the country’s economy.
Over the years, different administrations have come up with very good policies all aimed at achieving this feat. What has, however, been lacking has been the ability and capability to implement the policies by the government of the day or the continuity by the next administration to carry on where the former stopped.
Hence Nigeria has remained largely dependent on oil as its major source of income with revenues from crude oil exports contributing up to 70 per cent of its income.
However, the tide is fast changing for the country as private sector leaders become more interested in partnering with government to diversify the economy.
The country’s quest to diversify the economy away from oil received tremendous boost on Monday, through a private sector-led intervention as the ground breaking for the first Integrated Produce City (IPC) was done in Ugbokun community, Edo State.
The country’s diversification drive is anchored largely on agriculture, which was it’s pride and biggest revenue earner before the discovery of oil.
Speaking on how much Nigeria’s agricultural sector has deteriorated, Professor Pat Utomi, the brain behind IPC said, “Let me just give you one example of the tragedy of Nigerian economic condition. Cocoa which was about N300 a ton during the days of SAP (Structural Adjustment Programme) when cocoa began, is now anywhere between $3,000 and N4,000 a ton. The biggest source of cocoa in the world is West Africa and 75 per cent of the cocoa in the world is from West Africa. Most of it is from Côte d’Ivoire. The giant of West Africa, Nigeria, contributes only five per cent. Even the five per cent from Nigeria, the yield per hectare is one tenth of the yield in countries where they know what they are doing and yet the soil structure in Nigeria can better handle cocoa than that of Côte d’Ivoire. That is the tragedy of the nature of the Nigerian economy in the last 30 to 40 years.”
Prof Utomi, however, said the coming on stream of IPC, is set to change that singsong.
The IPC, a 200 hectare, multimillion dollars industrial park located 24 kilometres from the Edo state Capital, Benin, will revolutionise and redefine the operations agricultural value chain in the country. It is also expected to significantly raise the contribution of agriculture to the country’s revenue base.
Expressing the position of government, the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, performing the groundbreaking for IPC, said the venture would transform the lives of thousands of people in the country.
Osinbajo, represented by Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, described the IPC as a commitment by the investors to combat poverty in the country. He agreed that Nigeria could not continue to measure its price and value by the quantity of crude exported. He said, “let us stop exporting oil as it will help us rediscover who we are.”
The founder of IPC, Professor Pat Utomi said the project, which has Edo, Delta, Kogi, Ekiti, Anambra and Ondo, as catchment states, would have 50 factories when completed. He said the project would help to assist the Federal Government in transforming the economy by generating jobs and increasing commercial activities in the catchment states.
According to him, the proposed city would have regional wholesale produce market as Agro Allied Industrial Park, a Preservation Park, Export Hub and Farm inputs as well as implement and equipment centre. He said that the project would also have a waste conversion and disposal facility as well as other modern city facilities. Tagged the Agric Value Chain Solution Centre, the IPC chairman said the support infrastructure would include 24 hours electricity and water supply as well as residential accommodation.
According to him, the production and processing cluster would feature facilities designed to drastically reduce waste, increase income for farmers, and create jobs while reducing the price of food in local markets and growing foreign exchange earnings for the economy.
He said the facility located in more than 200 hectares with additional tracts of land would include a trading field to which farmers from Ondo, Ekiti, Kogi, Edo, Delta and Anambra states will auction their produce.
“Buyers such as supermarket owners, manufacturers and hotels who will have warehouses in the Estate; will move acquired produce immediately to their Warehouses, just as manufacturers located in the Estate. Preservation facilities ranging from silos, sun drying equipment and cold storage facilities on the Estate, will receive whatever is not sold immediately, ensuring little or no waste occurs.”
Explaining the business model further, Prof. Utomi pointed out that the first two model farms to be located within the produce city have committed to an out grower scheme that would provide Extension support and price assurance to select cooperatives of farmers in the adjoining states. One of them, the Snail House Integrated and Out Growers Farms Ltd will not only champion snail farming in Edo state through the out-growers scheme but intends to deepen the value chain for export and local consumption, including processing the snail shells for is calcium content, and the slime, for cosmetics manufacturing, in the estate.
Besides agro and allied products, the IPC would also help in increasing electricity supply within the areas of its operations. Speaking on this, Utomi said that an agreement for Paras Energy to construct a modular power plant, beginning with 25 Megawatts to service the city, as captive power producer; and an MOU with a foreign water company to service the city will ensure higher efficiency.
The electricity generated would be utilised in the park to ensure all round power supply and any excess power will the transferred to the Benin Power Company.
Among the transformative innovations designed for the IPC, he also stated, are Agriventure incubators and a Learning Alley to support Human Capital requirements for companies on the Estate. The Learning hub, he went on, would be located in Ibusa, in nearby Delta State.
The IPC Chief Executive, a noted political economist with a career spanning years as an executive in manufacturing, academia and the incubation of new businesses, said the IPC concept is a veritable strategy for reversing current economic challenges facing Nigeria. He said two other IPC locations are planned for Oyo State and Niger State to service the Lagos Ibadan megalopolis and the metropolis of Abuja.
Commenting on the development, Edo State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources Mr Joe Okojie, said the project was timely and in tandem with the agricultural policy of the state, more so with the concept of combining farming with industry. He promised that the state would provide the enabling environment for the success of the project. The commissioner urged the management of the IPC project to keep its part of the deal by creating all jobs promised in the proposal.
Also in his speech, the representative of Ugbokun community, said his people would ever remain grateful for the project because it is going to open the forest that has become a hideout for hoodlums who use it to attack unsuspecting travellers.
He, therefore, requested that government should establish a Police station in the community to help safeguard the investment, while calling on management of IPC to take care of the interest of the host community.