By Nneka Nwogwugwu & Bisola Adeyemo
Silos are used in agriculture to store grains or fermented feed known as silage.
Nigeria has 33 silos managed by government. Now two out of the 33 silos are set for final handover to the private sector.
Silos are also commonly used for bulk storage of grains, coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust.
In Nigeria, silos are mainly used to store grains like maize, sorghum, millet, and rice.
The supply of grains in Nigeria is far in excess of 25 million MT demand per year.
The silo complexes will be better utilized for efficient post-harvest grain reserve services, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) stated on its website.
The federal government announced a concession process for the 33 silos on September 19, 2018.
The former Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh made the announcement after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval.
The process was initiated in 2013 by the then Minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina, who felt the Federal Government did not have means to manage and maintain the 33 silo complexes.
Adesina, while speaking at the signing of Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with ICRC, The Guardian quoted him to say “Running and managing these huge infrastructure is extremely expensive. At the current guaranteed minimum price rate.
“About N100b would be required to stock the silos.
“Government does not have that kind of money to manage them.
“We, therefore, want the private sector to lease this huge storage infrastructure to improve their management, efficiency and profitability.”
Adesina noted that the MoC was continuation of the process of synergy with the private sector to manage and operate the silos across the country, as they are part of the ministry’s storage infrastructure under the Strategic Grains Reserves.
A document released to NatureNews by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development revealed that the ministry embarked on the implementation of the concession of 19 out of the 33 federal government silo complexes nationwide.
The concession process was carried out under the supervision of the ICRC driven by an appointed international transaction adviser, Messrs Lion Head Global Partners London.
Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN) Plc, Agro Universal Consortium, Matraville Consortium, Ebony Agro Industries Ltd, Coschairs Farms Ltd and Neon Farms Africa Ltd were six concessionaries named after the biding process.
Four Mills of Nigeria Plc, Agro Universal Consortium, were able to meet the condition precedents after signing the concession agreement and performed the ceremonial handover on May 16, 2019.
Ebony Agro and Coscharis farms Ltd only met the condition precedents as early as February 2020 while Neon Farms are yet to meet the conditions up to date.
Silo complexes are concessioned in different states with various capacities.
Ado-Ekiti-Ekiti, Akure Ondo, Bauchi-Bauchi, Bulasa-Kebbi, Ezillo-Ebonyi, Gaya-Kano, Gombe-Gombe, Ibadan-Oyo, Igbariam-Anambra, Ikene-Ogun, Ilorin-Kwara, Irrua-Edo, Jahun-Jigawa, Jalingo-Taraba, Jos-Plateau, Kaduna-Kaduna, Kwali-FCT, Lafiagi-Kwara, Makurdi-Benue, Minna-Niger, Ogoja-Cross River, Okigwe-Imo, Sokoto-Sokoto, and Uyo-Akwa-Ibom.
Most of the silos in operation require repairs and maintenance. Absence of an environmental management plan to guide the mitigation of environmental impact, for example, waste disposal at the silos, the health of workers who work with chemicals for preserving grains and the non-planting of trees around the silo areas especially in the Northeast region, to prevent the effects of cyclone on the facilities are problems confronting. Management of the silos.
Absence of a competitive market in grain storage in Nigeria, resulting in non-market determining tariffs for storage is also there.
According to the document, the final handover of the silo complexes to the concessionaire, is only possible when the Transaction Adviser has certified that the concessionaires have met all the conditions precedent to enable it carry out the needed repairs and a joint inspection carried out at the end of the repairs with the staff of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to ascertain the readiness of the concessionaires to start full operation.
