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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Economy & Trade

Onion crisis: NOPPMAN demands MoU, suspends exports over N1.2bn losses

From The Punch · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • The Nigerian Onion Producers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NOPPMAN) has suspended onion exports and called for a roundtable to negotiate a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with importing countries.
  • NOPPMAN cited an estimated N1.2 billion loss due to delays and restrictions on onion consignments in Ghana's Kotoku Market as the reason for the suspension.
  • The association seeks a permanent regional framework, guided by ECOWAS and AfCFTA, to prevent future disruptions in cross-border onion trade, with Ghana being the only country currently experiencing such issues.

The Nigerian Onion Producers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NOPPMAN) has suspended all onion exports and is demanding an urgent roundtable discussion with the federal government, ECOWAS, and onion-importing nations. The goal is to negotiate and sign a binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to safeguard cross-border trade.

Our demand is clearly for us to resume onion exportation to any other country, not even Ghana itself. We want to have a kind of permanent solution to this little challenge that is facing cross-border trade in Africa.

— Alhaji Isa AliyuNOPPMAN President's call for a permanent solution to cross-border trade challenges.

NOPPMAN President Alhaji Isa Aliyu stated that Nigerian onion exporters have incurred approximately N1.2 billion in losses due to prolonged delays and restrictions in offloading their perishable goods at Ghana's Kotoku Market. The association is no longer interested in resolving individual disputes but seeks a permanent regional framework to prevent recurring trade disruptions. "Our demand is clearly for us to resume onion exportation to any other country, not even Ghana itself. We want to have a kind of permanent solution to this little challenge that is facing cross-border trade in Africa," Aliyu said.

We want to have a memorandum of agreement with any country that is coming to buy our onion or any country that we are going to be exporting our onion to.

— Alhaji Isa AliyuNOPPMAN President emphasizing the need for formal agreements with importing countries.

The proposed MoU would cover all countries importing Nigerian onions, establishing clear rules for market access, truck movement, consignment offloading, and dispute resolution, guided by ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme and the African Continental Free Trade Area. While Ghana is the only country currently presenting these issues, NOPPMAN has suspended exports as a precautionary measure to prevent similar problems from arising elsewhere. The association alleges that Nigerian onion trucks have faced significant delays, with only two trucks being offloaded per day at the Kotoku Market.

No, we don’t have any problems in any other country apart from Ghana. It’s only Ghana.

— Alhaji Isa AliyuNOPPMAN President clarifying that the current trade issues are specific to Ghana.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by The Punch. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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