105, 000 tonnes of fertilizer inputs arrive Nigeria June 3 – Orji

Federal government on Thursday said 105,000 metric tonnes of basic raw materials for fertilizer production will arrive the country in June, this year.

Managing Director of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) Uche Orji, while speaking at the weekly Media briefing organized by the Presidential Media team, revealed that government has secured letters of Credit for three vessels of potash, one of the basic raw materials that will arrive on June 3, 2022.

Orji who stated that fertilizer was exempted from items sanctioned by the European Union against Russia, noted that expected items include Potash and Ammonium that are being imported from Russia and Canada

Orji disclosed that the supplied was stalled earlier due to the sanctions against Russia supplier, Uralkali, adding that alternative sources.

He disclosed that “ letters of Credit has been established for four vessels of phosphate”
According to him, “ two vessels are currently being discharged , the third vessel is currently on queue at the Onne port for discharge and the fourth vessel has been nominated”.

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Orji who also disclosed that two vessels of Ammonium Sulphate totaling 95,000 metric tonnes have been established based on demands from members of PEPSAN, added that “ a vessel is currently discharging at the Intels port while the other is inbounded with ETA of May, 2022”.

Nigerian farmers have groan over the shortage of the agricultural inputs, leading to hoarding and sharp increase in their prices.

Orji said the government is now buying most of the raw materials needed to ease the supply challenges.

“ Our job is to ensure that we have most of these raw materials available and as you may be aware , Fertilizer and oil and gas were not included in the banned items.

“ We are assuring our farmers that these items will arrive on time ahead of June and July, which are biggest application season.

Also speaking on the contributions of the NSIA to security, Orji stated that the , it has procured 16 patrol trucks and donated same to the security agencies to boost security, especially on the Abuja Kaduna road.