Nigeria pitches itself as massive market for Caribbean food

As the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) hopes to increase the amount of food it produces and decrease imports, the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, says the Nigerian market can potentially be a massive one for excess food produced in the region.

Lagos is the most populated city in Nigeria. The Governor is in Guyana to participate in the ongoing AfriCaribbean Trade and investment Forum.

According to him, food security is critical to both the Caribbean and Africa. As such, he said both regions need to find ways of producing or getting more food.

And a ley consideration will be figuring out how the regions can increase trade and building whatever facilities, be it logistics hubs or storage bonds, are necessary to enable the trading of food.

And for him, his state and wider Nigeria can then be a possible market for Caribbean produce.

“Lagos and the NIgeria market is big, it is open, it has not been fully tapped and it has the potential to energise, innovate and access all of the produce either from the Caribbean or neighbouring West Africa,” the Governor said on Tuesday.

Food security is one of the key topics under discussion at the two-day AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment forum that got underway on Monday at the Marriott Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown.

Already, CARICOM hopes to slash its hefty US$6 billion annual food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025 through a Guyana-led plan that will see the region growing more food here and increasing intra-regional trade. It is believed that excess food produced can then be exported to extra-regional sources.