The Federal Government has extended its ban on Shea nut exports by a year, reinforcing a drive to curb raw commodity shipments and boost local value addition. The extension takes effect from February 26, 2026, to February 25, 2027.
Approving the ban, President Bola Tinubu said that Nigeria is trying to shift the Shea nut industry from exporting mostly raw produce to processing more high-value products like Shea butter and its derivatives, which can fetch prices as much as 20 times higher.
He stated that the extension aims to “deepen processing capacity within Nigeria, enhance livelihoods in shea-producing communities, and promote the growth of Nigerian exports anchored on value-added products.”
Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga, said in a statement yesterday that the decision is aligned with the government’s industrialisation objectives under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
“The decision underscores the administration’s commitment to advancing industrial development, strengthening domestic value addition, and supporting the objectives of the Renewed Hope Agenda,” he stated.
Meanwhile, prices of the nuts slumped by a third after Nigeria in August joined other producers in West Africa by announcing a moratorium on shipments. They traded at about 850 naira (63 US cents) a kilogram at the end of the harvest season in December, according to Lagos-based commodities exchange AFEX. The production of shea butter in Nigeria is dominated by smallholders and women in rural villages in central Nigeria, where a growing number of attacks by extremists groups are devastating local communities.
Intermediaries who move products from smallholders to markets have also left the trade after the ban came into effect, resulting in lost contracts, the National Shea Products Association of Nigeria told newsmen.
