Local tractor manufactures have mounted pressure once again and said they are sure the deal to flood Nigeria with foreign tractors would be cancelled.
The group had fought back during the Muhammadu Buhari time to stop the $2bn Brazilian tractor and agric support deal. Now, local manufacturers think its time for war again.
Bobtrack, said to be Nigeria’s first tractor manufacturing company, seems to lead the war against tractor importation, saying it does not make sense that a country with one of the best tractors in the world is always trying to import.
His group has mounted pressure against the proposed $70m deal to flood Nigeria with foreign tractors, saying victory was sure.
In an exclusive interview in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, Ibifiri Bobmanuel, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bobtrack Tractor Limited, hinted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, going by his passion for the Nigerian economy, was expected to reverse the deal.
The deal was signed between the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security and John Deere of the USA. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture had announced the deal early in 2025 with much glee saying it would create jobs and boost mechanized agriculture.
Bobtrack CEO has however countered, saying it would export over 20,000 jobs and destroy local initiatives because Bobtrack alone has capacity to produce 6000 units per year and should thus be encouraged.
Speaking after a game of polo at the annual tournament in Port Harcourt (partly sponsored by Bobtrack), Bobmanuel said what the FG has done is a gross violation of Nigeria’s local content law. “For the federal government to decide to buy tractors from outside Nigeria when you have better tractor manufacturing companies in Nigeria is a breach of the law and a breach of our economic interest.
“For the FG to do that, we at Bobtrack think the federal government seems to be working sometimes at cross purposes.”
He said the president is one that has a clear understanding of the workings of the Government and that he (Bobmanuel) strongly believes that the deal would be reversed. “We at local manufacturers are calling them to do a reversal immediately. We believe the FG under President Tinubu is going to immediately do that.
This, he said, is because, if the deal is not reversed, Nigeria was going to waste $70 million and create export of over 20,000 Nigerian jobs which would be created should the purchase be made locally.
He said: “And in creating 20,000 jobs, we would be strengthening the Naira because we would sell to the federal government in local currency as against the FG buying it in forex when they already have local investments that are even better than what they are going to buy. I think it calls for a question. That’s why I believe the FG under President Tinubu will immediately do a reversal to that shenanigan. It is absolutely unthinkable to our economy for our government to do that.”
He went on: “I mean you’ve seen the tractors we have in display here. These tractors have been displayed in Dubai, Ghana, in China, etc, so what are we talking about. We’re exporting tractors out of Nigeria.”
He said what the FG needed to do was to encourage companies that export goods especially tech-based products and encourage such flow of exports because that’s the only way to strengthen the local economy.
“But when you turn Nigeria into a dumping ground where you go and buy all sorts of equipment that are not even made for Nigerian farmers, you are not helping the farmers.”
Bobtrack CEO boasted: “We are on ground. We have offices in eight locations in Nigeria and we have two manufacturing plants in Nigeria (Port Harcourt and Lafia). Now the FG is about spending a whooping sum of $70 million to buy those 2000 tractors. Can anyone understand such action?
“If the federal government is spending $70 million to buy 2,000 tractors, but we have an installed capacity of 6,000 agricultural tractors and equipment per annum, in the country.
“Instead of you patronizing and boost our ability to create jobs and create wealth, you are rather taking that same money to go and buy tractors from wherever you want to buy. That’s an absolute disservice to Nigeria. That’s why I’m very convinced that the president is going to do a reversal in a short while.”
On how this can be done, Bobmanuel said Bobtrack was talking with the Minister of Agriculture and in fact has already written to the appropriate authorities, expecting a positive response.
“I mean the Ministry of Agriculture is not new to the contract, because we are not just a company but an organization well known to the Ministry.
“They come to our facility, we are partnering with them in other projects that are yet to take off the ground like the green imperative (project) which they were to do with the Brazilian government at the World Bank, that we were partnering with them on.
“So, we are talking to the Ministry, we are talking to the Presidency, and we are in partnership with the department of the presidency called NASENI (the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure). One of our factories is in partnership with NASENI which is an agency right under the Presidency.
“So, we are talking with the relevant authority, and that’s why I’m very convinced that they will do a reversal. This is because if they don’t do a reversal, then, they would have sustained (or sabotaged) the Nigerian work force of additional 20,000 jobs that could have been included in that money that they are going to give away out of the country.”
Read also: Local tractor manufacturers cry out, say FG seems to give with one hand, takes back with the other
He said local manufacturers were very positive because they believe in the president. “The president thinks and has a thinking heart on. We have invested very much because of the promising potentials seen in the Nigerian mechanised agro feed.
“We saw that the mechanised agro feed had so much gap. We saw this gap long ago while in school up North when we were trading in commodities. I had interface with farmers bodies up there and I saw the pains, and the frustrations on their faces because of what they go through to earn a living. That’s why I felt it was a wise thing for us to attract this investment into a mechanised farming.”
He said all he expected was for the FG to set the rules and create the conditions for investors to get into the agric sector and close the gaps in tractorization. “Just look at it now. You buy tractors from the US from a company that does not have one maintenance office in Nigeria. You have a warranty but how are you going to enforce it? We are saying, we have a technology that is worthwhile. It has been proved around the world to be efficient.
“So, what the government needs to do is to support that technology rather than to shortchange it or to discourage it.”
On his message to the FG, he urged the leaders to support home solutions to Nigeria’s problems. He warned that there is no quick-pick solution to Nigeria’s problems but gradual and steady actions. “The agro solution they have in America is never going to work in Nigeria because, the climate of Nigeria or Africa is entirely different from America’s. That is why we think the federal government partnering with the local manufacturing outlets is the way to solving our problems because Bobtrack is tested and proved to be efficient.
“We’ve been in the business for over 10 years in Nigeria, manufacturing tractors in Nigeria. Not one single of our tractors that we sold out has had an issue. It’s something that’s really worthy of commendation.
“If the FG wants us to do a test or a demonstration or what is called “SWOP” analysis, we can tell them to bring any of those tractors that they want to buy, and we will bring our tractors, let’s do open test and see which is better. It’s that very simple.”
He went on: “You see our tractors here. If you also go to Lagos, to the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA2), our tractors are there. Go and see what they are calling tractors, and what the FG intends to buy, then you take a decision yourself.”
On Bobtrack and polo, he said there was close affinity. “We try to give back to society through sponsoring the game of polo. We are giving opportunity through charity to the less privileged in the society through polo games. I as a person am a passionate Polo player. We play in Port Harcourt, we play in Lagos, we play in Abuja, etc.”
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