By Nana Musa-Umar
The Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has revealed that since the inception of the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) It has rolled out 90 million bags of fertilizer since it’s inception in 2016.
The Managing Director of NSIA, Aminu Umar-Sadiq made the disclosure in Abuja on Monday during a stakeholders roundtable meeting.
Themed “The Presidential Fertilizer Initiative: Imperative for Food Security,”
Umar-Sadiq whom was represented by Corporate Planning Head at NSIA, Sybil Etuk said the initiative was borne out of foresight and the objective to revive moribund industries and ensure farmers have access to fertilizers.
Project Lead of the PFI, Iruansi Itoandon said “90 million bags of fertilizer have been rolled out so far since the initiative kick-started in 2016 and has led to the revival of domestic fertilizer blending plants which has created more stable and competitive market.
“Before the coming of the PFI, Nigeria was practically importing fertilizer which has depleted the country’s foreign reserves. However the PFI has now led to the revival of about 90 fertilizer blending industries with consistent funding from critical stakeholders like the CBN and the NSIA, resulting to the doubling of domestic Production,” he said.
Also, the President of Fertilizers Producers & Suppliers Association Of Nigeria (FEPSAN) Sadiq Kassim, said that the weak implementation of fertilizer implementation act as well and fluctuating exchange rates has been one of the challenges of the initiates.
He also called on the PFI to build an Institute for capacity building and formalize the trade of NPK in the ECOWAS region which will boost utilization from 2m to 5m metric tons in the next 5 years.
