With the UK raising interest rates as she slides into recession and inflation approaches 11%, Nigeria could offer them a helping hand with a mutually beneficial British-Nigerian Fruit Deal

Ayo Akinfe

[1] One huge problem the UK is facing outside the European Union (EU) is that she will no longer enjoys duty-free supply of certain products. For instance, she now has to pay top dollar for fruits and vegetables from the Mediterranean region. Trust the Spanish, Italians, Greeks, French and Portuguese, they demand full market price for all the tropical fruits they sell to the UK

[2] Companies like Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Iceland, etc now have to buy their fruits from Southern Europe at global market prices. With the EU protection gone, countries like Nigeria should be able to compete for access to the UK market alongside Southern European suppliers

[3] Nigeria is actually a significant fruit producer globally. We are the seventh largest pineapple producer (1.6m tonnes), sixth largest papaya producer (837,000 tonnes), 10th largest mango producer (917,000 tonnes) and 10th largest guava producer (790,000 tonnes)

[4] We need to start thinking about how to get our produce on to UK supermarket shelves. Matters that need addressing include supply guarantees, meeting international food safety standards and avoiding damage in transit

[5] During the last UK-Africa Summit in London, I did not see any farmers on President Buhari’s entourage. What would have been ideal would have been if our main fruit producers had come over and sat down with the likes of Sainsbury’s, Asda, Tesco, Iceland, etc to thrash out supply deals

[6] Just imagine if at that summit President Buhari and Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been invited to witness the signing of a historic fruit supply deal at that summit. Trust Boris the showman, he would have bragged about it non-stop, heralding it as the great new chapter in British history and a vindication of the decision to leave the EU

[7] In Nigeria, our supply costs are lower than many other global fruit producers due to lesser wages. Also, the fact that we are just below Europe geographically gives us a competitive edge over suppliers in Asia and the Americas. Post-Brexit, fresh Nigerian fruit should be arriving in the UK every day in the hundreds of thousands tonnes

[8] What our producers need are refrigerated trucks to convey their fruit from farm to port, government approved warehouses that are secure and refrigerated and then training on modern pest control methods and international food safety standards. In return, they should be asked to offer supply guarantees underwritten by the Nigerian government for long term deals

[9] I would have like to see President Buhari pick up the phone to new prime minister Liz Truss and tell her that Nigeria assures the UK retail trade that it will meet all their tropical fruit requirements over the next 10 years unfailing

[10] I am surprised that none of the 2023 presidential aspirants who have all been in London lately have announced one policy initiative in this regard. Over the last month, Tinubu, Atiku and Obi have all been in the UK and neither of them saw it fit to meet with the British retail giants to open talks about shelf space.