NAFDAC’s proposed export regulation will harm Nigeria’s cocoa industry — Processors

The Cocoa Processors Association of Nigeria has expressed concern over the proposed 2024 export regulations by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control.

Describing the proposed plan by the federal government as a sheer duplication of efforts and functions of other government agencies, they predicted that the move would only succeed in stifling the already burdened non-oil export sector, particularly the cocoa processing industry.

Addressing a press briefing in Lagos on Friday to express its worries over NAFDAC’s new export regulation for 2024, themed “NAFDAC’s New Export Regulations 2024 Would Kill Our Business with Multiple Taxes – Save Our Business and Nigeria’s Non-Oil Export,” the Chairman of the Cocoa Processors Association of Nigeria (COPAN), Felix Oladunjoye, lamented that Nigeria is currently processing less than 20,000 tonnes of its cocoa despite having the capacity to process over 250,000 tonnes if all the factories were up to speed.

“Nigerian factories can process all the cocoa being produced in Nigeria, but only 20,000 tonnes are currently being processed, so there is a need to declare a state of emergency on the nation’s cocoa industry. We are losing lots of employment opportunities while many investors are looking elsewhere to invest because the government of the day is frustrating businesses,” he said.

He stated that out of the 15 cocoa factories set up in 1986, only four factories are struggling to stay afloat, operating at less than 30 per cent of their installed capacity due to the harsh business terrain.

Meanwhile, he warned that NAFDAC cannot handle the millions of export transactions currently being recorded in the nation’s export sector.

“Already, cocoa processors are facing lots of challenges in their operations, but NAFDAC is coming up with an additional burden to further stifle the ailing cocoa processing industry.

“Non-oil exporters have taken the risk to invest their billions to set up cocoa processing outfits in the country to add value to our cocoa currently being exported raw.

“An average processing factory by today’s market value is not less than N60 billion to set up equipment, land, and machinery to process cocoa.

“Out of over 15 cocoa factories that have been set up since 1986, only four factories are in operation, doing less than 30 per cent of their capacity due to the harsh business operating environment in the country,” he lamented.

According to him, 80 per cent of the multinationals who invested in the sector have closed shop, maintaining that mounting more pressure on the struggling cocoa industry would only spell doom for Nigeria’s export market.

“We are talking of over N500 billion in investments tied up in machinery and equipment wasting away, with the unemployment rate increasing daily. Even at that, we pay heavy multiple taxes to the government.

“We have lots of multinationals who have invested in the sector and over 80 per cent have closed shop, but as Nigerians, we have decided to take our destinies into our own hands.

“We are not fighting for ourselves alone, but for all exporters in the non-oil sectors of the economy. This is also to say that NAFDAC lacks the capabilities and capacities to undertake the testing of millions of export transactions in Nigeria. This is an agency that has only one laboratory in Lagos.

“From our experience, when you apply for NAFDAC’s certification, it takes three months to get your goods certified. NAFDAC is also not part of the bodies being recognised in the business of issuing certification as far as cocoa is concerned,” he stressed.