On December 16, 2022, a frontline campaigner for the Atiku/Okowa presidency, Mr Reno Omokri, using his Twitter handle, @renoomokri, said Dangote refinery has shut down due to importation of cheap tomato paste from Europe.
Omokri also accused Mr Peter Obi of Labour Party of being behind the importation of the cheap tomato paste.
Verdict: False
Full Text:
Mr Omokri, an aide to former president Goodluck Jonathan, is very active on social media especially on Twitter.
In his tweet of December 16, he said “Dangote’s tomato paste factory in Kano had to close shop due to massive importation of cheaper foreign tomato paste from Europe. Guess who is behind that importation? Peter Obi. And he expects the millions of Kano people affected by his exploitation to vote for him?”
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The tweet as at the time of this fact check, had gathered 4,402 likes, 223 quote tweets and 694 Retweets
Verification
Claim 1: Dangote tomato paste in Kano had closed shop
In verifying the claim, Daily Trust sought to ascertain the real situation at the Dangote Tomato paste factory in Kadawa area of Kano State.
Preliminary findings by Daily Trust showed that there are a lot of factors responsible for the inefficient functioning of the factory and one of the major ones is an insufficient supply of quality tomato to be processed into finished products.
It was also understood that the 1,200 tons per day plant that processes tomato was experiencing supply hitches as a result of overwhelming national demand.
Also, the factory, considered as the largest on the continent, can only produce at one-fifth its capacity, as a result of the low supply, thereby hindering its aim to reduce Nigeria’s over-reliance on imported tomato paste from China, and other countries.
As such, the production demand of the factory till date has not been met as farmers struggle to make tomatoes available, especially at a time the country is battling with food shortages due to widespread insecurity in the North West region, where Kano State is located.
A resident of Kano who is a farmer and also familiar with the challenges facing the factory, Munir Lawan, said told Daily Trust that “importation is not even part of the challenges facing the Factory.”
According to him, the site the factory is sited is quite far from where the tomato farmers reside – which is in faraway villages that are hard for vehicles to travel to and convey tomatoes to the factory.”
He added that “The demand for tomatoes is quite high as most of them (farmers) also supply them to the southern part of the country. As such, the supply gap is just the problem; not forgetting the insecurity too, as many farmers cannot access their farms.
“So for the Dangote tomato paste factory, it hasn’t been operational for a full year due to inadequate supply,” Munir said
Conclusion: Following enquiries and verification by Daily Trust, it is concluded that supply challenges is hindering the tomato factory from performing at full capacity against the claim that the factory has packed up, as such the claim is False.
Claim 2: Peter Obi is responsible for the closure of Dangote factory due to import of cheap tomato
Verification
In verifying this claim, Daily Trust could not independently verify if Peter Obi, or any of his companies, is accredited or certified to import the product into the country in the first place.
However, Daily Trust found that several companies are certified to import tomatoes into Nigeria, including the Dangote Group.
A letter obtained by Daily Trust from the Department of Technical Services at the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning showed the approvals for these companies.
The letter, dated 20 July, 2022, was addressed to the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service with the heading “RE: APPROVAL FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2021 FISCAL POLICY MEASURE AND TARIFF AMENDMENTS -IMPORTATION OF TOMATO PASTE OR CONCENTRATE, NOT PUT UP FOR RETAIL SALE: TRIPLE CONCENTRATE, HS CODE: 2002.90.11.00 AND OTHER, HS CODE: 2002.90.19.00,”
The letter reads: “I am directed to refer to circular Ref, No. F.181153/228 dated 31st August 2021 on the above subject and to confirm that the investors in the attached list with verifiable Backward Integration Programme (BIP) have been approved to import tomato paste or concentrate, not put up for retail sale: triple concentrate, HS Code: 2002.90.11.00 and Other, HS Code: 2002.90.19.00, at 10% duty rate and 20% levy (AT).
“This approval is valid for a period of one (1) year effective from the date of this letter and must be supported with the following documents: Form ‘M’ Final Invoice.
“Please accept the assurances of the warm regards of the Honourable Minister.
“Hajiya Fatima Z. Hayatu Director, Technical Services for Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning.”
Subsequently, the list which was tagged “LIST OF APPROVED INVESTORS WITH BACKWARD INTEGRATION PROGRAMME (BIP) TO IMPORT TOMATO PASTE OR CONCENTRATE, NOT PUT UP FOR RETAIL SALE: TRIPLE CONCENTATE, HS CODE: 2002.90.11.00 AND OTHER HS CODE: 2002.90.19.00,” had a total of nine investors/companies approved for importation of tomato into the country with their quota allocations.
Accordingly, Conserveria Africana Limited (GBFoods) had a quota allocation of 42,000MT, closely followed by Caraway Africa Nigeria Limited with 20,000MT quota.
Also, Dangote Farms Limited had 19,000MT while Sonia Farms Limited, Tomato Jos and Erisco Foods Limited had 7,000MT, 6,000MT and 2,000MT
In the same vein, Firebrand Limited had 2,000MT, while Vitali Products Limited had 1,000MT each of quota allocations.
Consequently, these certified companies have been processing and producing tomato paste in Nigeria.
Conclusion: Following findings by Daily Trust, the claim that Peter Obi’s import of cheap tomato is responsible for Dangote’s factory woes is misleading as there are many companies importing the product into the country.
This fact check is produced in partnership with the Centre for Democracy and Development
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