President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved a 6-month temporary ban on the export of raw shea nut to curb informal trade, boost local processing, protect and grow Nigeria’s shea industry.

The ban, which is with immediate effect, is subject to review on expiration and specifically aimed at boosting Nigeria’s shea value chain to generate around $300 million annually in the short term.

Vice President Kashim Shettima who announced the president’s directive on Tuesday during a multi-stakeholder meeting at the Presidential Villa, called on the Federal Ministry of Finance and other relevant government agencies to fast-track enforcement.

VP Shettima lamented that Nigeria produces nearly 40% of the global shea product, yet account for only 1% of the global market share of $6.5 billion, adding

 that the ban was a collective decision involving the sub-nationals and the Federal Government with clear directions for economic transformation in the overall interest of the nation.Speaking earlier, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, who explained how the nation stands to benefit from the ban, regretted that 

recent assessment showed that over 90,000 metric tonnes of raw shea are lost each year in informal cross-border trade, even as Nigeria’s “processors operate at only 35 to 50 percent capacity despite a national installed capacity of 160,000 metric tonnes.

Underscoring the enormous potential of the shea trade for Nigeria, the Minister noted that the shea sector “could generate more than 300 million dollars annually in the short term and position Nigeria to capture a significant share of the projected 9-billion-dollar global market by 2030.

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