Business

Tomato Scarcity Looms, As Farmers Lose N1.3bn, 300 Hectares To ‘Ebola’

Published

3 years ago

April 27, 2023

Tuta Absoluta, also known as Tomato Ebola, is currently ravaging tomato farms in parts of the country, costing as much as N1.3 billion is economic dimensions, with scarcity looming.

The situation has led to a collaborative efforts by Federal Government; Nigeria Agribusiness Group, NABG; Hort Nigeria; Nigerian Horticultural Research Institute, NIHORT; Sygenta; International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, and others to tackle the dosease.

They raised the alarm over Tomato Ebola at a briefing by Horti Nigeria, supported by the Netherlands, adding that the ravaging insects were ruining huge investments of farmers in Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Gombe States.

The President, NABG, Emmanuel Ijewere, said stakeholders have resolved, therefore declared total ‘War’ on the invading insects.

Ijewere pointed out that the worrisome development cannot be left alone for the farmers as NABG was organising a stakeholders’ meeting to address the challenge, because it is the farmers who are the major sufferers and not even the processors, in the sense that they have invested heavily on their farms for tomato production.

He said: “Tuta Absoluta is an insect that has ravaged tomato farms and from what we have discovered, the insect is very devastating to the tomato and is so smart.

“The insects have decided to build their homes under the leaves and when the insecticide is sprayed it doesn’t affect them.

“The affected states are mainly Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Gombe, but the insects don’t need visa to go to any other states as far as the conditions are right.

“Climate change has enhanced the movement of pests around the field; the warm environment helps them to spread wide, increased humidity allow these pests to thrive, hence the new outbreak of Tuta Absoluta.

“We are glad to have the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development here and we are working together to solve this problem.

“The bottom line is that the biggest sufferers are farmers who are already in trouble, and they have invested in buying inputs, and it is time to harvest and there is nothing to harvest.

“It is ‘war’ we are going to declare against these insects and all of us here will be providing the ‘weapons’ to achieve it.”

Ground Zero

Also in a remark, the Director, Horticulture, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Deola Lordbanjoce, explained that, “This current crisis with Tuta Absoluta started from Galama Local Government in Kano.

“When it was reported we started our investigation and we found out that about 300 hectares in that Local Government alone were affected by this infestation.

“And from our end we need to look into the economics of what we are talking about.

“Then we got to know economically that the farmers in that local government arising from the infestation of Tuta Absoluta may have lost about N1.3 billion.

“We are working in collaboration with the National Tomato Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria every time and investigating what is happening in other states.

“And we have our records already and we are working on two things; the Ministry is convening a stakeholders’ meeting, which may be merged with what NABG is planning.

“Number two, the Ministry is sourcing for funds seriously and interventions to solve critical problems of Tuta Absoluta and we are making some money available to NIHORT to produce the hybrid seeds they just developed and to procure some IPM packages to control Tuta Absoluta.

“Our tomato need as a country is about 5.4 million metric tones and we cannot meet the 1.3 million metric tonnes deficit, and now that we have Tuta Absoluta that means the deficit will rise to three metric tonnes.

“That is a crisis if that is allowed and will aggravate the cost of purchase by consumers, which will indeed go high.”

The Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, NIHORT, Dr Mohammad Attanda, represented by the Head, Biopesticide Center, NIHORT, Oladigbolu Abiola, recalled that in 2015, the pest caused monumental destruction and disruption of the tomato value chain.

“The sole dependence on synthetic insecticides for the control of Tuta has resulted in development of resistance – a change in the sensitivity of Tuta population to synthetic pesticides, resulting in the failure of a correct application of the pesticides to control Tuta as is being experienced now, hence aggravating outbreaks whilst the food security of the nation is threatened.”

Recommendations

However, amongst recommendations made by the NIHORT boss include; Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to incorporate
NIHORT sustainable Tuta Integrated Management Package for tomato production in the national tomato policy to stem the tide of this occurrence;

Farmers should strive to adopt the planting of NIHORT’s recently released tomato seeds bred for high yield, tolerance to fusarium, good shelf life and nutrition qualities.

The Director General, DG, NABG, Dr Manzo Maigari, recalled that in 2016 and 2017, the level of Tuta Absoluta’s devastation reached an epidemic level, but NABG along with other partners proffered some solutions.

“Today it (Tuta Absoluta) is back and we have to call on these major stakeholders to come together so that we can agree on the way forward.

“We have also seen the entrance of a new stakeholder, Horti Nigeria, funded by the Dutch Government, and they also have a regime of practices that has proven beneficial to farmers because in the clusters that are managed by them so far there is resistance by the Tuta Absoluta.

“Therefore, this adds to the bouquet of solutions we want to present to farmers so that the whole thing will have an integrated approach,” Maigari stated.

Meanwhile, the Secretary General, National Tomato Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, Sani Danladi, lamented the huge losses over 500 farmers have incurred in Kano, while they are yet to know how many farmers are being affected in Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna and Gombe.

Danladi said: “This ‘war’ is not only for the government and farmers but for all Nigerians.

“When Tuta Absoluta enters the farmer’s farm it destroys everything there within three days no matter how big or small it is.

“It is very devastating because it destroys all investment in the farm.

“Looking at the quantum of investing on one hectare of farmland to produce tomato it costs not less than N1.7 million.

“It is not a small amount of money farmers are losing every year of this disease manifests.

“It is not occuring early in the season but when temperature rises to high degrees and that is why some farmers are afraid in going into late transplanting of tomato.

“From January to March, tomato is very cheap in Nigeria but from April upward it becomes very scarce because farmers are afraid of doing late transplanting.

“This year the devastation is very high because we had low production and the disease came and ravaged all produced by the farmers and that is why we have come out to cry and tell the government and Nigerians that on this issue we have to take a holistic approach to proffer solutions.

“We have reported it to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, NABG and other stakeholders on how can we stop the spread of this disease because we are afraid it might spread to other States.

“This year more than 300 hectares have been destroyed by this disease which affected more than 500 farmers only in Kano State, but also affected farmers in Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa and Gombe States, and we are still collecting the data from the remaining states, and that is why tomato is very scarce now.

“Now 90 per cent of tomato in Kano has gone because of Tuta Absoluta devastation.

“It is different from caterpillars but this one is very devastating as you can’t eat it because is dangerous to human health.”
VANGUARD

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Business

Full List: 82 Newly Approved, Fully Licensed BDC Operators

Published

3 days ago

December 9, 2025

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has granted final operating licences to 82 Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators under its revised regulatory framework, reinforcing warnings against transactions with unlicensed foreign exchange dealers.

In a statement on Monday, the Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Hakama Sidi-Ali, confirmed that the licences took effect on November 27, 2025, in accordance with the 2024 Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for BDC Operations. The guidelines require all operators to meet specified capital thresholds and regulatory conditions to qualify for licensing.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria, in exercise of its powers under the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020 and the 2024 Guidelines, has granted final licences to 82 Bureaux De Change to operate with effect from November 27, 2025,” the statement read.

The apex bank emphasised that only BDCs listed on its official website are considered fully licensed, urging the public to verify the status of any operator before engaging in foreign exchange transactions.

“While the CBN will continue to update the list of Bureaux De Change with valid operating licences for public verification on our website, the Bank advises the general public to avoid dealing with unlicensed Foreign Exchange Operators,” the statement warned.

The CBN noted that operating a BDC without a valid licence constitutes an offence under Section 57(1) of the BOFIA 2020, and confirmed that legal action would be taken against non-compliant operators.

TIER 1

1 DULA GLOBAL BDC LTD

2 TRURATE GLOBAL BDC LTD

TIER 2

1 ABBUFX BDC LTD

2 ACHA GLOBAL BDC LTD

3 ARCTANGENT SWIFT BDC LTD

4 ASCENDANT BDC LTD

5 BARACAI BDC LTD

6 BERGPOINT BDC LTD

7 BRAVO MODEL BDC LTD

8 BRIMESTONE BDC LTD

9 BROWNSTON BDC LTD

10 BUZZWALLET BDC LTD

11 CASHCODE BDC LTD

12 CHATTERED BDC LTD

13 CHRONICLES BDC LTD

14 COOL FOREX BDC LTD

15 CORPORATE EXCHANGE BDC LTD

16 COURTESY CURRENCY BDC LTD

17 DANYARO BDC LTD

18 DASHAD BDC LTD

19 DEVAL BDC LTD

20 DFS BDC LTD

21 EASY CASH BDC LTD

22 ELELEM BDC LTD

23 E-LIOYDS BDC LTD

24 ELOGOZ BDC LTD

25 ENOUF BDC LTD

26 EVER JOJ GOLD BDC LTD

27 EXCEL RIJIYA FOREX BDC LTD

28 FABFOREX BDC LTD

29 FELLOM BDC LTD

30 FINE BDC LTD

31 FOMAT BDC LTD

32 GENELO BDC LTD

33 GENTLE BREEZE BDC LTD

34 GRACEFUL GLORY AND HUMILITY BDC LTD

35 GREENGATE BDC LTD

36 GREENVAULT BDC LTD

37 HAZON CAPITAL BDC LTD

38 HIGH-POINT BDC LTD

39 I & I EXCHANGE BDC LTD

40 IBN MARYAM BDC LTD

41 JOURNEY WELL BDC LTD

42 KEEPERS BDC LTD

43 KHADHOUSE SOLUTIONS BDC LTD

44 KIMMELFX BDC LTD

45 KINGSOFT ATLANTIC BDC LTD

46 M.S. ALHERI BDC LTD

47 MASTERS BDC LTD

48 MCMENA BDC LTD

49 MKOO BDC LTD

50 MKS BDC LTD

51 MR J GOLF BDC LTD

52 MUSDIQ BDC LTD

53 MZ FOREX BDC LTD

54 NEJJ BDC LTD LTD

55 NETVALUE BDC LTD

56 NEW WAVE BDC LTD

57 NOTABLE AND KINGSTON BDC LTD

58 PILCROW BDC LTD

59 RAPID BDC LTD

60 RIGHTWAY BDC LTD

61 RWANDA BDC LTD

62 SABLES BDC LTD

63 SAFETRANZ BDC LTD

64 SAMFIK BDC LTD

65 SEVENLOCKS BDC LTD

66 SHAPEARL BDC LTD

67 SIMTEX BDC LTD

68 SOLID WHITE BDC LTD

69 ST. NICHOLAS GLOBAL BDC LTD

70 TOPFIRST UNIQUE MULTICHOICE BDC LTD

71 TOPGATE BDC LTD

72 TRAVELLER’S CHOICE BDC LTD

73 TUCA GLOBAL BDC LTD

74 TURBOVA BDC LTD

75 TURN-UP BDC LTD

76 UNIGO BDC LTD

77 VICTORY AHEAD BDC LTD

78 WHITEWAY WWW BDC LTD

79 YUND GLOBAL LINK BDC LTD

80 ZAMAD FOREX BDC LTD

Business

CBN Issues 82 New BDC Licences, Moves To Curb Unregistered FX Operators

Published

3 days ago

December 9, 2025

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has granted final operating licences to 82 Bureaux De Change (BDC) under its updated regulatory framework and cautioned members of the public against engaging with unlicensed foreign exchange operators.

In a statement issued on Monday and signed by the Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Hakama Sidi-Ali, the Bank said the licences became effective on 27 November 2025. The approvals were granted under the 2024 Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for BDC Operations in Nigeria.

The CBN stressed that only BDCs listed on its official website are recognised as licensed operators. It encouraged the public to verify the licensing status of BDCs before engaging in any foreign exchange transactions.

The Bank reiterated that running a BDC without proper authorisation constitutes an offence under Section 57(1) of the BOFIA 2020. It stated that enforcement actions would be taken against violators.

The licensing exercise forms part of the CBN’s broader initiative to reform the foreign exchange market and ensure that only compliant operators participate in the sector. Under the 2024 guidelines, which took effect in June 2024,
all BDCs are required to reapply for Tier 1 or Tier 2 licences.

The guidelines stipulate minimum capital requirements of ₦2 billion for Tier 1 and ₦500 million for Tier 2, along with non-refundable licensing fees of ₦5 million and ₦2 million, respectively.

The CBN said it would continue its efforts to maintain order and transparency in the foreign exchange market.

Business

JUST IN: CBN Removes Cash Deposit Limits, Raises Weekly Withdrawal To N500,000

Published

1 week ago

December 3, 2025

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has removed cash deposit limits and also increased the weekly cash withdrawal limit from N100,000 to N500,000.

The CBN made this known in a circular to all banks and other financial institutions, signed by Dr Rita Sike, Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department.

Sike said that the revisions formed part of ongoing efforts to moderate the rising cost of cash management and address security concerns.

According to her, it will also curb money laundering risks associated with heavy reliance on cash.

She said that the cash-related policies previously issued in response to evolving circumstances were aimed at reducing cash usage and promoting the adoption of electronic payment channels.

“However, with time, the need to streamline and update these provisions to reflect present-day realities became necessary,” she said.

She said that with effect from Jan. 1, 2026, the cumulative deposit limit would be removed and the fee previously charged on excess deposits would no longer apply.

The director said that the cumulative weekly withdrawal limit across all channels has been reviewed to N500,000 for individuals and five million Naira for corporates.

“Withdrawals above these thresholds will attract excess withdrawal charges as specified,” she said. “The special monthly authorisation that allowed individuals to withdraw five million Naira and corporates N10 million once a month has been abolished.”

She said that for Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), daily withdrawal remains capped at N100,000 per customer, with a maximum of N500,000 weekly.

She said that this formed part of the overall weekly withdrawal limit applicable to all channels, including point-of-sale (POS) transactions.

Sike said that excess withdrawals above the stipulated limits would attract three per cent for individuals and five per cent for corporate customers.

According to her, this will be shared in the ratio of 40 per cent to the CBN and 60 per cent to the operating bank or financial institution.

She directed banks to load all currency denominations in ATMs, while the existing limit on over-the-counter encashment of third-party cheques remains pegged at N100,000.

Sike said that such withdrawals would be counted as part of the cumulative weekly limit.

The director said that banks were also required to render monthly returns to the relevant supervisory departments.

She listed the departments to include the Banking Supervision Department, Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department, and the Payments System Supervision Department.

Sike said that revenue-generating accounts of federal, state, and local governments were exempted from the new withdrawal rules.

She said that accounts of microfinance banks and primary mortgage banks held with commercial and non-interest banks are also exempted from the new rules.

She, however, said that the long-standing exemption previously enjoyed by embassies, diplomatic missions, and aid-donor agencies had been removed.