ICD’s ICCF Abuja/Lagos Nigeria 2024 | #PodSaveChocolate

By Clay Gordon | 10 months ago | 6 min read

CRIN entrance, Ibadan, Nigeria / © Clay Gordon 2024 || Pod graphic by: Sara Scodeller.

Episode 12 of #PodSaveChocolate comprises a report of my recent trip to Nigeria for International Cocoa Diplomacy’s International Cocoa and Chocolate Forum.

When and Where to Watch

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This episode airs live from 10:00 PST / 13:00 EST / 18:00 GMT on Friday, January 19th, 2024.

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Episode 12 Overview

TRIP REPORT!

My first visit to Nigeria was in 2021 and I wrote about that trip here:

For this recent trip, I was tasked with moderating panels at International Cocoa Diplomacy’s International Cocoa and Chocolate Forum / Nigeria, held in Abuja and Lagos. International Cocoa Diplomacy (“ICD”), while incorporated in London, was founded by the Oloni of Eti-Oni, HRM Oba Dokun Thompson, my host on this trip as well as for my visit to London in October 2023.

Nigeria is roughly four times the area of Ghana with over 6.5 times the population. With over 220 million inhabitants, the Nigerian market is roughly two-thirds that of the United States. And, Lagos boasts one of the busiest ports in Africa, much busier than Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, which produces 7-8x more cocoa than Nigeria does.

Cocoa is an important crop in Nigeria and is one of the most valuable non-oil export commodities.

With those statistics in mind, the overall theme of ICCF/Nigeria 2024 was Putting Value in Cocoa in Producing Regions.

The session in Abuja (the federal capital) focused on policy and finance and was attended by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, the Budget Minister, an associate focused on agriculture from the American Embassy, the MD/CEO of NEXIM – the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (an arm of the Central Bank of Nigeria), and the ED/CEO of the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), among others. Presentation and panel topics included the Impact of EUDR Compliance on the Nigerian Cocoa Sector; COP 28 Resolutions; Expanding Thinking Beyond Cocoa Beans and the Opportunities for Investment and Job Creation; and the Importance of Classification and Denomination.

The session in Lagos focused on investment and entrepreneurship, with representatives from the offices of the governors of Lagos and Osun States, Nigeria’s Chief Trade Negotiator, the Commissioner of Lagos’ Ministry of Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade, and Investment, the MD/EDs of several banks, and several young entrepreneurs in coffee, cocoa, and chocolate. Presentation and panel topics included Understanding Valuation Addition Beyond Transforming Cocoa into Derivatives, Clarifying Taxes in Relation to Value Addition; Opportunities for Wealth Creation within AfCTA; and The Future of Cocoa and its Transformation Potential.

In this episode of PodSaveChocolate, I will discuss my impressions of the trip with a focus on the two conference days. I will also talk about my trip to CRIN and the work they are doing there ...