By Amos Tauna
The blending of fertilizer in Nigeria without any Federal government subsidy and foreign exchange has saved the country N260 billion, the President, Fertilizer Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria, FEPSAN, Mr. Thomas Etuk, has said.
This was as the Presidential Committee on Fertiliser has said that, one million metric tons of fertilizers, amounting to 20 million 50kg bags of the product is to distributed in Nigeria before the end of June 2017.
The Presidential Committee which paid a visit to the three fertiliser blending plants in Kaduna, northwest Nigeria on Saturday evening said that the era of hoarding fertilizers is gone in Nigeria, as people who engage in such act would be losers, because 15 fertilizer blending companies were producing simultaneously across the country at a rate that the market will be saturated with the products.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the tour of Fertilizer and Chemicals Company, Abakpa and Chemicals Ltd. Kakuri, Chairman of the committee and Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Abubakar Badaru, said, the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, which is a collaborative programme with the private sector will deliver 700,000 metric tons above what was consumed in Nigeria last year.
He warned agro dealers and distributors of the fertilizer against selling the product above the approved price of N5,500, saying anyone reported by whistle blowers for such would be prosecuted.
According to Governor Badaru, “The project is working very well and the farmers are happy, they are getting fertilizers at a very good price and very available too. Nobody believed we will get to this stage when we started, but you have seen the development so far, how fertilizer has started becoming available everywhere.
“We intend to continue because there is no subsidy element, because the businessmen, the private sector are involved in this, it is well sustainable and it will continue.
“From the plant, the fertilizer is being sold to the agro dealers at the rate of N5,000 per bag, and after deducting transport, they are made to make some margins, and they shouldn’t sell more than N5,500. There are telephone numbers on each bag for whistle blowers to raise alarm if any agro dealer sells the product to them more than N5,500. Such dealer will be prosecuted.
“This year, this project is going to distribute one million metric tons of fertilizers, which is going to amount to 20 million bags. This is going to be a great improvement, because last year, all the fertilizers consumed in Nigeria was 300,000 metric tons. So, this year we are producing 700,000 tons over what was consumed last year.
“Governor Badaru said dealers who try to hoard fertilizers will be doing that at their own peril because “apart from paying for storage for such products, the Federal Government has set a price for NPK 50kg at N5,500 and they can’t sell more than that anywhere.”
Speaking on the fertilizer project, Managing Director, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Mr. Uche Orji said, 1.3 million bags of fertilizers have already been sold across the country, while another 1.6 million bags have been released.
According to him, “If you put that in context, in two and half months, we have sold more than 60% of the entire programme of 2016. We have materials on ground to deliver more than 8 million bags. And next week, more materials will come for another four million bags.
“This programme targets 20 million bags for this year, it has never been done in this country. So, there will be enough fertilizer for everyone. So, anyone hoarding is just wasting his time because more is coming.
“This is a classic case of import substitution. In the past, we would have imported this fertilizers and no job would have been created locally. Out of the over one million so far sold to the dealers, not one naira subsidy has been used. There is no need for subsidy.
“Three blending plants are working in Kaduna, one is working in Funtua, one in Ebonyi, one in Lagos, Minna is working, we are having Plateau, Benue and before the end of this programme, we will have many more blending plants across the country”, he said.
FEPSAN President, Mr. Thomas Etuh in his own remarks said, the Fertilizer Initiative is a tripartite agreement between Fertilizer Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN), OCP in Morocco and Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority.
He said the programme which has agreement to blend NPK 20:10:10 in Nigeria without any FG subsidy has in the last six months saved Nigeria N60 billion from subsidy and N200 billion from foreign exchange, adding that, “So far, over 4,500 trucking has taken place, imagine the drivers, the motor boys, those loading and off-loading, so direct and indirect jobs have been created and that is the joy of the project and at the end we expect a bumper harvest from the farms.”
Talking about the raw materials, Etuh said, only two of the raw materials used are imported. “We import phosphate from Morocco and we have the potash coming also from Europe. These are the two products we don’t produce in Nigeria. But the other two raw materials are produced in Nigeria, that is Urea, which 36% and lime stone which is 27%. So, 63% of the raw materials are produced locally,” he explained.
