The Onion Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (OPMAN) has inaugurated the launch of documented onion exports to West Africa through the Illela land border in Sokoto State.
This was launched by Mr Abdulrahameed Ma’aji, the Area Controller of Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), for Sokoto and Zamfara states on Thursday, as he urged the onion traders to maximize the opportunity for enhanced production and trade with the continent.
He added that the Customs Service had implemented laws and guidelines to improve Nigerian trade and encourage businesses to export to Africa.
“Despite COVID-19 Pandemic, NCS provided proactive solutions to the public that will aid continued reliable and quality service delivery for sustenance of global trade,” Ma’aji said.
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National President of OPMAN, Aliyu Maitasamu, stated that the union was working with sister agencies to develop a recovery plan to boost production by 20% each year until 2026.
“In line with the Federal Government’s plan to diversify the economy and create jobs, the union in conjunction with sister bodies in West and Central Africa, developed an onion recovery plan which will target an average steady growth of 20 per cent each year, from 2020 to 2026,” he said.
“Nigeria is among the 10 top onion exporting countries in the world, and with competitive advantage of production, the largest onion producing country in sub-Saharan Africa, with annual 1.4 million metric tonnes in output.
“With the present arrangement, Nigeria will continuously export onions to Niger Republic, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin Republic, Mali, Cote D’ Ivoire, and others, with more expanding opportunities,” Maitasamu added.
In case you missed: Nairametrics reported on December 16, 2020 that President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered the immediate reopening of four of Nigeria’s land borders, over a year after they were all shut.