Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has said that Nigeria is capable of generating N16.2trillion from palm oil production annually.
The ex-lawmaker said that if the President, Bola Tinubu invested in the palm oil production now, in the next five years, Nigeria stands the chance of making the amount annually. According to him, assisting the poor to revive large scale farming of oil palm could lead to the upliftment of a good number of Nigerians from poverty.
He spoke in Abuja on Thursday during a meeting with the National Association of Palm Producers of Nigeria (NPPAN).He said each hectare has 150 trees that on the average can generate N5,000,000 per annum and if multiplied by 2,500,000 will amount to 375,000,000 trees that could generate up to N16.2 trillion per annum in just five years from now.
He said that this investment could lift millions of Nigerians out of multidimensional poverty. Dogara also called for an investigation into the status and administration of oil palm levy set up by former president Olusegun Obasanjo.“Throughout my 16 years in the National Assembly, I didn’t have any reason to think about the oil palm levy, though I know that it was instituted by Obasanjo’s government in 2001. So that money has been there, accumulating in the CBN, assuming, we are believing that CBN still has the money.
“I am happy that members of the National Assembly are here, it is their responsibility to open accounts and investigate if this money is there. It must have risen to hundreds of billions by now so we don’t even have to look for money. I believe the media should amplify this discussion to know if the money is there or not.He noted that “this venture (oil palm development) will be taking so many families out of poverty, so it is something that has to be done. I’ll also suggest that for us to make progress, maybe there will be a need for the president to constitute a presidential implementation committee on oil palm development in Nigeria.
“Let him escalate the matter to a point whereby almost on a monthly basis, there will be briefings as to progress made in this direction.”He added, “Indonesia produces 80 million tonnes of palm oil per year. Malaysia produces 19.2 million tonnes per year, China produces 5 million tonnes per year, Columbia 1.2 million tonnes per year and surprisingly, and quite sadly so, Nigeria produces 1.4 million tonnes per year.
“And this position, we may lose it any point from now. The reason is that India has just declared as a policy that two million hectares of rice farm should be declared as oil palm estates.”
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