The Federal Executive Council (FEC) Monday approved the transmission of a bill to the National Assembly to establish the National Cocoa Management Board, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Abubakar Kyari, has said.
The minister said this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting chaired by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He said the approved draft bill would be forwarded to the National Assembly through the Federal Ministry of Justice.
He said cocoa is Nigeria’s leading non-oil foreign exchange earner and a vital contributor to the GDP.
“Cocoa is the highest non-oil revenue contributor to the Nigerian GDP. However, we are still lagging behind in terms of our competitors next door — that is between Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana,” he said.
He said the countries have national boards to manage their cocoa industries and that Nigeria had initiated dialogue with them to explore collaborative frameworks.
“Part of the resolution that was reached was to copy what they had done in Cote d’Ivoire and also in Ghana, where they have established the National Cocoa Management Board,” he said.
He said prior to the FEC memo, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security had set up a Cocoa Management Committee to assess the feasibility of the new board.
He said the proposed board would comprise representatives from the public and private sectors, including state governments and research institutions.
“I believe representatives of sub-nationals will be the deputy governors and also the cocoa research institutes,” he said.