Border closure unsustainable – Salami

Dr. Doyin Salami, the Chairman of the federal government Economic Advisory Council, has warned against the continuous border closure saying it’s unsustainable.

He also said that Nigeria would lose out in the benefits of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) unless our products are competitive.

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Dr. Salami spoke at the meeting on the development of the Secured Agricultural Commodity Transportation and Storage Corridor (SATS-C) in Abuja, on Thursday.

“It is important to bear in mind this issue of ACFTA and the reason is very simple – upside and downside. The upside is the access to larger market and that is only available if we as a country are prepared” he noted.

“As I am looking at it, Nigeria needs to be careful. If we are not careful, our output may even diminish on the back of ACFTA. Why? Because other countries with better and lower production cost will take advantage of our market which will become a disincentives to our farming community” he further stated.

“Shutting borders does work to a point but it is not a long term sustainable venture. Routes to market and infrastructure that drives trade is very important” he stated.

Speaking at the event, the NIRSAL’s Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Aliyu Abdulhameed, told journalists at the side-lines of the meeting that he “believes that a fully operational SATS-C policy could directly lead to a 5 percent increase in the agriculture sector’s contribution to national GDP by halving annual post-harvest losses of $12 billion.”

Further benefits, he noted, “lie in the lowering of food prices, creation of 125,600 direct and indirect jobs, and the heightened possibility of adhering to standards for improved access to export, industrial and consumer markets.”

The NIRSAL MD also indicated that the SATS-C policy “would complement and perfect one of NIRSAL’s business models/concepts known as PH-P3 (Primary Production & Harvest, Primary Processing, Primary Transportation and Primary Storage) which ensures efficient production in the farms and optimum capture of value at harvest by enabling prompt evacuation of produce from farm-gates, and the subsequent haulage of commodities across the country through designated corridors.”

Because SATS-C’s envisaged enabling of seamless movement of produce from production zones, to processing zones to markets, Abdulhameed believes, would invariably upgrade agro-logistic value chains, flush blockages and usher in an era of increased flow of finance and investments into and through agricultural value chains.

For this reason, NIRSAL is reaching out to enabler institutions, driving necessary dialogues and championing advocacy to support the FMITI in the development and implementation of the SATS-C policy in Nigeria.