From crude oil to palm oil: Nigeria strives to diversify

From crude oil to palm oil: Nigeria strives to diversify

President Muhammadu Buhari has made the development of Nigeria’s agriculture a central part of his plan to cut the country’s food import bill, and reduce the reliance of Africa’s largest economy on crude oil sales.

But, while efforts to boost the production of palm oil — which is used for cooking and found in goods ranging from toothpaste to soap — have reinvigorated the local industry, they have also highlighted the challenges a new president will face when Buhari’s second term ends next year.

Nigeria was the world’s leading palm oil producer in the early 1960s. However, after focusing on crude oil exports in subsequent decades, it slipped to fifth and now mostly imports the vegetable oil from Indonesia and Malaysia. Crude sales provide around half of all government revenues these days, and most foreign exchange earnings. So, as part of a drive to reduce dependence on crude, the government has sought to return Nigeria’s palm oil industry to its heyday.

Just after Buhari took office in 2015, the government introduced a ban on the allocation of foreign exchange to importers of palm oil, as well as 40 other products. Importers of crude palm oil also have to pay a duty of 35