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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Economy & Trade

Nigerian vegetable oil producers decry unchecked imports, blame agencies

From The Punch · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Nigerian vegetable oil producers are struggling due to a surge in imported products, blaming regulatory agencies for inaction.
  • The association claims unchecked imports since 2025 have led to debt, business closures, and job losses for local manufacturers.
  • Producers warn of continued sector decline and potential consumer health risks from unregulated imported oils if enforcement does not improve.

Nigeria's vegetable oil producers are sounding the alarm over a flood of imported products, which they say is crippling the local industry. The Vegetable and Edible Oil Producers Association of Nigeria claims regulatory agencies have failed to curb the influx of refined vegetable oil since 2025.

The 2023 fiscal policy placed imported refined vegetable oil as contraband, and we made significant progress, and our businesses and companies expanded, and we hired more hands.

· Okey IkoroDescribing the impact of previous policies on local businesses.

Chief Okey Ikoro, the association's National President, stated at a press conference that this unchecked importation has pushed many local manufacturers into debt and forced businesses to close. He explained that Nigerian producers cannot compete with imports because they face higher production costs, including electricity tariffs and VAT.

But from 2025, everything collapsed. Since then, Nigerian markets have been flooded with all sorts of vegetable oil products through the Badagry border. And this has resulted in lots of setbacks for us. Many who took loans cannot service them, and businesses have been folding up since then.

· Okey IkoroDetailing the negative consequences of increased imports since 2025.

Ikoro highlighted that the situation worsened in 2025 after a 2023 fiscal policy that had initially curbed imports. He noted that the market is now flooded with over 100 brands of imported oil, many of which lack proper regulatory scrutiny. This not only harms local businesses but also exposes consumers to potentially unregulated products with unknown production processes.

There are over 100 oil brands in the Nigerian markets today, and nobody checks them like ours because they are cheaper. They don’t have to pay for band A electricity charges, pay VAT, or even diesel for the machines. Nobody knows the processes under which they were produced and our people are consuming them, even with the risks involved.

· Okey IkoroExplaining the competitive disadvantage and consumer risks associated with imported oils.

The association is urging customs, NAFDAC, and SON to enforce regulations more strictly. Ikoro warned that continued inaction could lead to further business closures, unpaid salaries, and a worsening crisis in the sector, while consumers remain at risk.

We want Customs, NAFDAC, and SON to wake up to their responsibilities, and if they cannot, the federal government should find an alternative for them because we can’t continue like this.

· Okey IkoroDemanding action from regulatory bodies.
About this summary

Originally published by The Punch in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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