By Chinwendu Obienyi
As part of its organic growth strategy, the Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange (LCFE), has concluded arrangements to onboard the trading of electronic receipts of rice and derivatives of Imota Rice Mill as the Company is scheduled for inauguration next week by President Mohammadu Buhari.
The Imota Rice Mill, promoted by the Lagos State Government, is the largest in Africa and the third largest in the world, with installation capacity of 32 metric tonnes per hour. It is located at Imota area of Ikorodu division owned by the Lagos State Rice Company Limited to drive development of the Rice Value Chain and meet the rice demand needs of the nation.
The mill requires about 200,000 Metric Tonnes of Paddy Rice annually, to produce head rice of about 120,000 metric tonnes and other derivatives. It is estimated to generate 1,500 direct jobs and 254,000 indirect jobs.
“Our Exchange is proud to partner with Imota Rice Mill to fulfil its objectives for the development of the commodities ecosystem to meet demand for rice in Nigeria and drive the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) through the Commodities ecosystem.
This partnership will promote an enabling environment for the alignment of all stakeholders in the rice production value chain and the capital market,” says the LCFE’s Managing Director, Akin Akeredolu-Ale.
He noted that the onboarding of Imota Rice Mill on the Exchange will drive steady flow of paddy to the mill and ensure effective trading of rice contracts on the exchange.
The Pan African Commodities Exchange,LCFE, was established for structured, standardized and certified trading of electronic receipts of commodities and allied products as well as their derivatives. The historic inauguration of Imota Rice Mill is expected to attract many top government functionaries and captains of industries.
Commenting on the recently passed Investments and Securities Bill by the House of Representatives, Akin Akeredolu-Ale, said this will be a game changer and is capable of enabling the commodities trading ecosystem to thrive.
According to him, this will diversify the nation’s economy and provide the nation with foreign exchange.
He stated that Nigeria is a commodities country as a better part of the GDP by way of production comes from the commodities ecosystem and urged that Senate to ensure swift concurrence on the Bill.
“We need that concurrence by the Senate as quickly as possible. I am very happy that the NASS has taken it upon themselves as well as the SEC to push this bill. That bill is a game changer for the commodities ecosystem, and also a game changer for Nigeria as a commodities country. For now, a lot of commodities being traded is still in the informal sector, the bill would create structure and all the leakages from taxation and revenue will be taken care of by this bill.
“The major things about the commodities ecosystem is the fact that we are looking inwards in Nigeria now. A lot of the impact of the policies that the CBN had done last year by way of supporting the agriculture space are paying off now in the maize, wheat and rice space among others. And for us at the LFCE, we have also looked at the part of commodities that has to do with solid mineral which is the gold space.
“In Nigeria we have over 58 different solid minerals that are sought for all over the world, we have not touched platinum or lithium which is the major component for batteries and electric cars. These are the kinds of commodities that by the time the bill is passed, we would be able to have proper structure and attract foreign investors. What do these foreign investors look out for? The foreign investors look at regulatory framework, legal framework and a proper enabling environment to want to participate in the market”, he said.