Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has cautioned that Nigeria forfeits real economic value by exporting raw commodities instead of finished goods.
The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday, said Nigeria’s agricultural produce was ripe for export competitiveness at the global market, but access to finance for local farmers to meet the demand and quality needs remained the main drawback impeding the pathway of local crops from getting to global supermarkets.
Speaking at the First Bank 2025 Agric and Export Expo held at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, on Tuesday, he said despite Nigeria’s improving crop production, the nation’s share of agricultural exports in global market remained far below what it should be.
He noted that the nation only exported raw commodities rather than finished products, thereby losing out on the real wealth and jobs that could come from processing, packaging, and branding of products.
The event with the theme: “The Fundamentals of Building an Export-Driven Economy”, brought together policymakers, investors, producers, and entrepreneurs on the discussion table to chart a course for diversification of Nigeria’s economy through agriculture and exports.
Governor of Niger State, Umar Bago, joined his Lagos State counterpart at the forum.
Sanwo-Olu said agriculture had provided the nation with immense opportunity to grow its GDP, stressing that Nigeria was not only blessed with arable land, but also an energetic young with resilient entrepreneurial spirit.
This, the governor said, made it imperative for the country to fully harness its agrarian resources and move its economy away from overdependence on oil, while building a resilient economy that would be anchored on productivity, value addition, and competitiveness in non-oil exports.
Bago, too, said a nation that only exported raw products to global markets without processing to finished goods would be shortchanged of the real value of their exports.
The Niger State’s helmsman said if value was added to raw products, the producers would determine the global price for their produce.
He said farmers in his state had been benefiting from protein production and supplies of dairy products, noting that the state government was in the phase of empowering them with knowledge and capacity to turn their raw produce to finished products in order to earn more from the food market.