Business
Lagos Establishes Cassava Flour Mill
The Lagos State Government has established a cassava processing factory with the capacity to process 64 tonnes of cassava into high quality flour daily.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Co-operatives, Mr Gbolahan Lawal, said this in an interview with newsmen last Saturday in Lagos.
He said that the mill located at Epe was established to increase the supply of cassava flour in line with the Federal Government‘s policy of 20 per cent cassava flour inclusion in bread.
“About 65 per cent of flour mills in the country are located in Lagos; none of them is meeting the 20 per cent cassava inclusion in the flour for bread because of inadequate supply.
“I think what they have achieved is about three per cent or less.
“So, apart from keying into the cassava bread policy, we established this mill to increase supply and create jobs.
“The cassava processing factory has so far generated no fewer than 600 direct and indirect jobs for our people, and we intend to generate more as we scale up the capacity in the future,’’ he said.
The commissioner said that cassava farmers had a ready market in the mill as their harvests were taken up to be processed into flour and other cassava derivatives such as ‘garri’.
He dismissed the fear that the establishment of the mill would affect the supply of ‘garri’ and other cassava derivatives.
“We are supporting cassava farmers‘ clusters across the state with all they need to improve production under our AGOA programme.
“I can say we are happy with all the improvements.
“The mill, though designed mainly to produce cassava flour, has the capacity to produce garri, starch and other cassava derivatives.
“As we produce cassava flour for bread, we are producing more garri and starch. Nothing suffers.
“The whole thing is to enrich the cassava value chain and boost food security,‘’ he said.
Credit to Nigeria’s private sector rose to N83.26 trillion in June 2026 from N81.04 trillion in May, signifying a positive balance of N2.22 trillion month-on-month.
Year-on-year, the figure represents a nine per cent increase compared with the N76.13 trillion recorded in June 2025. The latest figures come as the CBN continues to balance efforts to control inflation with the need to support economic growth and expand credit to businesses.
The CBN data shows that credit to Nigeria’s private sector increased by approximately 2.74 per cent month-on-month between May and June 2026. Also, the CBN data noted that credit to the government fell slightly to N40.03 trillion from N40.38 trillion. Other assets, net, dropped to N10.76 trillion from N12.63 trillion.
The credit surge signifies sustained growth in lending to businesses and other private-sector borrowers during the month. The rise in private sector credit was recorded alongside an increase in net domestic credit, despite declines in credit to government and other assets.
Further analysis of the report says that compared with June 2025, private sector credit rose by about N7.13 trillion yea-on-year but net domestic credit increased by approximately N1.87 trillion during the month.
The CBN’s relatively tight monetary policy stance notwithstanding, more banks still loaded funds to the private sector within the period. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) held its 306th meeting on July 20 and 21.
The Committee reviewed recent developments in the global and domestic economies, assessed emerging risks to the outlook and considered their implications for monetary policy and retained all rates.
The Committee decided to retain the Monetary Policy Rate at 26.5 per cent; the Standing Facilities Corridor around the MPR at +50/-450 basis points and retain the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) for Deposit Money Banks at 45.00 per cent, Merchant Banks at 16.00 per cent, and non-TSA public sector deposits at 75.00 per cent.
The MPC decision means that credit extension in the private sector will likely continue to rise because of rising confidence in the sector and calls by stakeholders for banks to invest in the private scetor instead of government securities.
