COVID-19 Lockdown: Cashew Exporters Lost N1bn, Says NACCIMA

Chairman of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture, Export Group, Kola Awe, has said Nigerian cashew exporters lost over N1bn during the lockdown occasioned by COVID-19.

Awe, who represented the NACCIMA’s Director-General, Ayoola Olukanni, at a mini-sensitisation workshop organised by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council on Tuesday, attributed the cause of damage of the commodities to poor infrastructure and gridlock along the corridors.

He said, “Cashew nuts is a very sensitive product and does not allow for too much delay.

“Because there was a lot of congestion on the roads, the trucks were spending three weeks, one month.

“When a truck spends three weeks, one month and the cashew nuts is in a closed environment, the moisture content is going to go.

“When the moisture content becomes higher, it affects the cashew nuts. By the time the cashew nuts get to its destination, there is going to be a blame on the exporter.”

On the need to embrace waterways mode of transportation, Awe tasked the government to look at the high cost of barges operators, calling on the Nigerian Shippers Council to engage the operators in a bid to reduce charges.

According to him, the council’s intervention on the need to reduce barge charges in ferrying export cargoes to the seaports would boost trade facilitation and further encourage shippers in their quest to generate foreign exchange for nation.