Stakeholders Lament High Cost Of Doing Business In Nigeria

Stakeholders in the agricultural sector have expressed concerns over the high cost of doing business in Nigeria, noting  that the harsh operating environment is making it difficult to break even.
The stakeholders at the 2023 agro fair and symposium tagged, “Food Security and Nation Development”, said the Federal Government must think outside the box in its bid to rescue the food sector.
Speaking on the sidelines of the symposium, the Sales Rep/Technical Officer, Premier Standard, Mr. Shodele Babatunde, said his company is a major importer of catfish feeds into the country and is being challenged by the high rate of custom duty and unavailability of foreign exchange
Babatunde, therefore, called on the federal government to intervene in its efforts to achieve sustainable agriculture business development.
He said:  “The high rate of custom duty is killing the business, so without government intervention it will be very difficult for us to have sustainable agriculture development in Nigeria. Most of our raw materials are imported, so imported feeds, high dollar rates, high duty payment and others will definitely be tough for business operators.
“Due to the high cost of doing business and insecurity in the North-east, locally made feeds are becoming more expensive than imported feeds, adding, operators in the fish industry are currently being challenged by the unavailability of fish meal which is a major ingredient for production of catfish.
“At the presently, we do not have any source of protein produced in Nigeria for commercial purposes. Fish meal, which is a major ingredient for production of cat fish feed, is being imported”.