Nigeria’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been commended for placing a ban on the exportation of sheabutter nuts in the country.
Ms Nelly Osagie Ndaguba, a certified sheabutter technician and quality control expert, who is a leader of the sheabutter entrepreneurs and aggregators of its nuts in the country gave the commendation in a statement in Abuja.
She said that the ban was a timely decision, which stood to save livelihoods and immensely benefit the people.
Ndaguba, who is also Secretary General of the African Women Entrepreneurship Group (AWEG), said the ban was a welcome development for producers of the sheanuts, adding that it was the much-needed move to address the longstanding exportation of the raw materials that had left local producers with substandard nuts at exorbitant prices, in the local market.
”With the ban now in place, we have the opportunity to support local production, to ensure that large and small-scale producers benefit, where Nigeria has the infrastructure and capacity to process sheanuts locally”, she said.
Nduguba also called on all governors of the 23 sheanut-producing states of the country to consider establishing storage facilities where women could bring their sheanuts for sale.
This, she added, was to enable local producers to have access to a consistent supply of quality sheanuts, which had forced some factories to close down, because they could not compete with the prices offered by international buyers.
She further commended the Comptroller General of Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS), for swiftly mobilising his officers to secure the country’s borders and ensure that no sheanuts were smuggled out of the country.
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Also commended for a sustained effort leading to the ban was the National President of the trustees board and stakeholders of the National Association of Shea Products of Nigeria (NASPAN).
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