…Says ‘Cocoa to sell for $240,000 per tonne, with value addition’
There are indications that three years after President Bola Tinubu chose the shock therapy, with the proclamation that ” subsidy is gone”, Cocoa production is set to be a major beneficiary of the industrial hubs, set up to boost agriculture value addition and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises MSME.
President Tinubu had likened the reforms to childbirth: long labour, intense pain, then relief, that would eventually push Nigeria somewhere to the land of economic prosperity.
The subsidy regime has seen Nigeria spent as much as $81b between 2005 and 2022, with the distorting effects on all aspects of the economy, including the abandoned factories, crippling the production of goods and services.
Sunday Dare, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, said statistics illustrate that Nigeria which hitherto sold raw cocoa for about $8,000 per tonne, is now set to earn as.much as $48,000, per tonne, after processing same cocoa into butter, by adding values.
“When turned it into finished chocolate products, the earnings can rise to as high as $240,000 per tonne.”
Cocoa is grown in large quantities in Nigeria’s tropical rain forest zone, especially in states like Ondo and Osun States
Other states include producing cocoa in Nigeria include; Edo, Cross River, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Abia, Kwara, Kogi, Taraba, and Adamawa states
For decades, Nigeria had faced the stark reality of being one of the biggest exporters of raw cocoa; exporting wealth in its raw form while importing prosperity in finished products.
The question has never been about whether Nigeria has the resources, but whether the country has the political will to move up the value chain.
To expand the country’s position, President Tinubu, in 2025, launched the national industrial policy that focuses on shifting from raw material exports to adding value by producing finished goods domestically.
The policy seeks to integrate Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) into the heart of industrial growth, by building infrastructure and coordinating the energy, infrastructure, and financial resources to lower the cost of production, thereby helping to esolve historical infrastructure deficits.
The policy also seeks to strengthen Nigeria’s competitiveness by leveraging regional and global opportunities, particularly the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), to boost exports and retain economic value
It also focuses heavily on strict execution, measuring success by the number of factories opened, exports processed, and jobs created rather than merely the volume of policy documents.
“Today, the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has laid the foundation for that transformation”
“The Renewed Hope economic agenda is built on a simple but powerful principle: Nigeria must become a nation that produces, processes, and exporter of finished goods rather than relying primarily on raw commodity exports, is beginning to yield great results”
The President believes that sustainable prosperity will not come merely from producing and exporting more cocoa, especially in its raw form.
“It will come from building factories, supporting agro-processing industries, improving access to power, strengthening logistics networks, and creating an environment where investors can profitably manufacture in Nigeria
The President also believes that “recent economic reforms, though challenging in the short term, are intended to create a more competitive and investment-friendly economy capable of supporting large-scale production.
“Industrial growth requires capital, infrastructure, stable policies, and market confidence. These are the building blocks the administration is seeking to establish”
“Whether in agriculture, solid minerals, manufacturing, or energy, the goal is the same: retaining more value within the Nigerian economy.
“The cocoa sector presents one of the clearest examples of this opportunity. Nigeria remains one of the world’s leading cocoa producers, yet the overwhelming majority of the value created from cocoa is captured elsewhere.
“Foreign companies process Nigerian cocoa into butter, powder, confectionery products, and premium chocolate brands, earning many times what Nigerian farmers and exporters receive”
This is precisely why the Tinubu administration’s emphasis on industrialization, investment attraction, infrastructure development, and economic reforms matters.
Hassan Abdullahi also sees the policies as a good thing for Nigeria noting that China also went through the same process before rising to greatness
” According to him” China was where we are today about 50 years ago. They began to do three things. Number one, massive investment in infrastructure, which is what we are doing today with this government. They created special Economic Zones, President Tinubu created Lagos Free Zone as far back as 2006, which is comparable to our own free trade zones. They began to invest heavily in tertiary education like we are doing now. Most people condemning this government lives in the Lagos he built.”
The cocoa value chain is only one example where government policies are beginning to bear fruits, however, same the same principle applies to cashew, sesame, cotton, lithium, gold, and numerous other Nigerian resources.
“Every time Nigeria exports raw materials without processing them, jobs, tax revenues, technology transfer, and industrial capacity are exported alongside them.
“The future belongs to countries that add value, not just to those that extract resources.
“Nigeria’s path to becoming a trillion-dollar economy will not be paved by selling commodities at their lowest value. It will be driven by factories, processing plants, industrial parks, and globally competitive Nigerian brands.
“The choice before the nation is clear. Nigeria can continue earning $8,000 from raw cocoa exports, or it can build an economy capable of capturing the $240,000 opportunity.
Michael Akanji, a stalwart of the All Progressive Congress APC described the development in the Cocoa sector as a revolution that will help to strengthen Nigeria’s position not only as a primary producer of raw cocoa, but also exporter of refined products
“The encouraging reality is that the Tinubu administration has made industrialization and value addition central pillars of its economic vision.
“The task now is to accelerate implementation, attract investment, and ensure that Nigerian products increasingly reach global markets not as raw materials but as finished goods proudly made in Nigeria.
“That is how nations create wealth. That is how jobs are created. And that is how Nigeria can finally capture the full value of its abundant resources.
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