ABUJA — The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions, Senator Neda Imasuen (LP, Edo South), has faulted the existing global and domestic economic frameworks that leave Nigeria exporting raw cocoa beans at low prices only to import finished chocolate and processed items at exorbitant rates.
Speaking during a legislative engagement on industrialization and local value addition in Abuja on Thursday, October 22, 2026, the lawmaker condemned the structural imbalance in Nigeria’s agricultural trade.
Senator Imasuen lamented that despite Nigeria’s status as a top global producer of high-grade cocoa, the country continues to capture only a minuscule fraction of the global chocolate and confectionery market.
“It is an economic tragedy that we export raw cocoa beans to foreign nations for a pittance and then spend billions of foreign exchange to import finished chocolate bars back into our country,” Imasuen stated. “We export the hard work of our farmers and import unemployment and inflation in return. This current system is flawed and must be restructured.”
The Edo South senator urged the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, alongside relevant credit agencies like the Bank of Industry (BOI), to prioritize direct incentives, tax reliefs, and affordable capital for domestic cocoa processing plants.
He stressed that shifting from raw commodity exports to processing cocoa liquor, butter, powder, and finished chocolate within Nigeria remains the surest path to creating jobs for youth, strengthening the Naira, and driving sustainable economic growth.
