Nigeria aims to capture 10 percent of the global palm oil market and create two million jobs within six years through a new sector-wide strategy launched in Abuja on Thursday, April 2, 2026. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, minister of state at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, presented the plan at the Nigerian Oil Palm Development Strategy Validation Meeting, titled "Unlocking Nigeria's Oil Palm Potential: Pathways to Sustainability and Growth." The roadmap focuses on boosting yields, expanding farmland, modernising processing infrastructure, and integrating smallholder farmers—who produce most of the country's palm oil—through better seedlings, financing, and market access. Abdullahi attributed Nigeria's drop from a leading global producer to a two percent market share to low productivity, poor processing, and fragmented coordination.
He stressed that success hinges on execution, not policy statements, and called for private investment alongside public support to de-risk agribusiness ventures. The strategy positions oil palm as a dual agricultural and industrial asset, feeding into food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and animal feed. Nigeria is also moving toward full membership in the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries to boost technical ties and meet global sustainability standards. Marcus Ogunbiyi, permanent secretary at the ministry, said the plan emerged from a multi-stakeholder group formed in 2024. Stakeholders including Joe Onyuike of the Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria and Alphonsus Inyang of the National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria welcomed the framework but warned that excluding smallholders could stall progress. Gold Leonard Isona of NIFOR emphasized science and innovation as key to productivity. Nigeria currently spends $600 million yearly on palm oil imports.
Agriculture ministers have made bold promises before, and Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi's 10 percent global target sounds familiar in ambition but not yet in credibility. The $600 million spent annually on imports shows how far Nigeria is from self-sufficiency, and past strategies collapsed under poor coordination and neglected smallholders. This plan's success depends not on structure but on whether private capital actually moves—especially to rural processors and farmers who've been left out for decades. Without land reforms, consistent funding, and accountability, another policy document gathers dust.
