EU Tells Nigeria, export Cocoa, Rubber & Palm Oil to Us

Last week Wednesday, the European Union (EU) was quoted as asking Nigeria government to increase export of agricultural produces like rubber, cocoa and palm oil to the EU countries.

The Head of EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr Michel Arrion, said this at a press conference on commemorate the 40 years of EU-Nigeria partnership in Abuja. Arrion said there were potential exports, which Nigeria could develop in commercial quantities, lamenting that such exports to the EU were currently in low quantities.
Ordinarily, the EU head of delegation call is a welcome development but deep down it is an insult to the people of Nigeria for him at this time to call for a continued export of primary commodities to the EU.

For over 40 years, Nigeria and Africa countries have been exporting primary commodities to Europe to feed their factories and in return bring back the processed product at higher prices. They have not thought of helping to transfer technology to Nigerians to enable the country process and add value to the agricultural produce in order to sell at higher prices.

Perhaps the call is coming as a result of the fear that Nigeria is looking more to Chinese technology and developing a higher trading relationship. The Union has every cause to worry because its traditional source of cheap raw material is being threatened by the growing trading relation between Nigeria and China.
All along and in the last forty years as it claims, the Union has not considered it necessary to set up local processing plants in Nigeria to process agricultural produce to either semi processed or finished products that could command higher value in their home countries.

Even when Nigerian businesses struggle to set up such processing plants they are denied access to European market in the name of quality.
It is quite unfortunate that it is at this time that the present government is trying to refocus the economy that the EU is asking Nigeria to concentrate in producing and exporting primary commodity to Europe.

In the opinion of the EU “There are potential exports like rubber for instance for tiles that Nigeria could certainly develop. We will be delighted to import and to buy more rubber from Nigeria; the problem is that the production is very small. We will be delighted to buy more cocoa from Nigeria. We are buying most of our cocoa from Ivory Coast and Ghana, while not from Nigeria?” he said.

Is the EU a true friend of Nigeria? Knowing that the current economic crisis the nation is facing arose from the collapse of commodity prices in the global market, the EU is still urging Nigeria to continue to export primary commodities to it without adding value to them. The government must be wary of such advice and take the necessary measures to ensure that no commodity is exported from Nigeria without value addition in the near future.