The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, has said the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is fully committed to reviving the cocoa industry and the whole agricultural value chain in Nigeria. In a statement, Senator Shettima expressed the government’s target of moving the sector from mere producer to processor of cocoa on the global stage.

Senior Special Assistant to The President on Media & Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, in the statement, noted that the Vice President made the declaration during an audience with a delegation from the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) led by its President, Mr. Chris Vincent, at the Presidential Villa.

Shettima stated that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) recently approved the establishment of a National Cocoa Management Board (NCMB) geared towards revitalizing the cocoa industry and the whole cocoa value chain. “Let’s walk the talk. We used to be one of the world’s leading cocoa producers, but because of the advent of oil, we have been relegated to the background now,” Nkwocha quoted Shettima as saying.

Nkwocha further explained that Shettima emphasized the need for Nigeria to start processing cocoa products. “We don’t want to be producers of cocoa; we want to be processors of cocoa because a tonne of cocoa will fetch you $9,000 now, but processed cocoa will get you $30,000,” Nkwocha quoted Shettima as saying.

Shettima also disclosed that he was already working on building a cocoa farm to lead by example, saying the passion is not driven by profit-making but by the desire to contribute to the social welfare of the country. Nkwocha noted that Shettima pledged Nigeria’s readiness to work with WCF, assuring that he would personally engage the governor of Taraba State to secure the 10,000 hectares in Kurmi local government area of the state for the WCF and other partners to expand their investments in the nation’s cocoa industry.

Meanwhile, Nigeria is actively pursuing a massive $25 billion undersea gas pipeline project to supply gas to Europe. Nkwocha reported that Shettima made a direct appeal to global investors, stating that “he (the President) is putting Nigeria on a new trajectory. This is where the action is, invest in Nigeria.”

Nkwocha added that Shettima described Nigeria’s gas sector as a beacon of stability and transparency amid global uncertainty. “The world is changing, and ours is actually a gas and not an oil economy. We have the eighth largest gas reserve in the world,” Nkwocha quoted Shettima as saying.