The Director-General of the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA), Dr Debo Akande, has called on the Federal Government to decentralise the proposed National Cocoa Management Board (NCMB), warning that an overly centralised structure could undermine efforts to revive Nigeria’s struggling cocoa industry.
Speaking against the backdrop of ongoing deliberations on an Executive Bill seeking to establish the NCMB, Akande said the board’s mandate should prioritise regulation and research rather than trade.
He cautioned that centralisation could replicate past failures, noting that similar governance issues reportedly contributed to the collapse of Indonesia’s cocoa management board.
“More than often we don’t learn from history. And we repeat the same situation without even looking at the global context in the days that we are,” he said.
Akande argued that agriculture should not remain on the exclusive legislative list and suggested that cocoa management would be more effective at regional or state level.
“Which part of the country is producing cocoa? Can we rather look at a regional cocoa management body?” he asked, proposing that oversight be handled by regional development commissions.
He criticised what he described as the country’s culture of overcentralisation, adding that, “We centralise everything too much. And that is one of the problems that have given our agricultural sector problem today.”
“Let every region focus on their area of competitive and comparative advantage,” he stated.
He added that a national board, if politically influenced, could be led by individuals from non-producing areas, potentially undermining the sector.
“You don’t want somebody sitting in Zamfara tomorrow to say this has become a political position… when nothing in terms of cocoa is being done in the place,” he said.
Highlighting efforts to boost production, Akande revealed that Oyo State aimed to produce more than one million cocoa trees within the next three to four years, in partnership with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN).
He also disclosed that discussions are ongoing with Belgian chocolate manufacturers to strengthen local sourcing and expand first-layer processing in the country.
His comments come amid concerns from industry experts, who at the weekend warned that restoring the cocoa sector would require substantial investment and disciplined execution.
They noted that memories of the defunct cocoa marketing board, dogged by bureaucracy, corruption, delayed payments and arbitrary price-setting, still loom large.
Stakeholders cautioned that recreating a cumbersome bureaucracy could stifle private-sector innovation and erode the competitiveness of Nigerian cocoa farmers.
