President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, August 17, 2021, confirmed and ratified the International Coffee Agreement, 2007, following a Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval of Nigeria’s membership of the International Coffee Organisation (ICO).
A presidential media aide, Garba Shehu, in a statement, said the FEC had drawn a conclusion on the agreement on October 21, 2020.
He explained that the FEC laid emphasis on Conclusion 10 which approved the preparation of the Instrument of Ratification of Nigeria’s membership of the IOC and International Coffee Agreement of 2007.
He said the 2007 agreement would strengthen the ICO’s role as a forum for inter-governmental consultations, facilitate international trade through increased transparency and access to relevant information, and promote a sustainable coffee economy for the benefit of all stakeholders, and particularly of small-scale farmers in coffee-producing countries.
Shehu further said the Instrument of Ratification was prepared by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
An expert, Joakim Akanu, said Nigeria’s membership of the International Coffee Organisation, has opened the international coffee market for Nigeria.
Akanu, an exporter, said the presidential ratification brought to an end years of agitations for Nigeria to do the needful to advance the acceptability of coffee in the international market.
The National Survey of Agricultural Export Commodities 2005 clearly showed that Nigeria can ean foreign exchange from export of coffee.
