Suara Sherif
FirstBank Group Chief Executive Officer, Olusegun Alebiosu, has raised the alarm over the mismatch between conventional short term lending and the realities of agricultural production, calling for structured, patient capital to unlock Nigeria’s agribusiness value chain and drive non oil export growth.
Alebiosu spoke at the opening ceremony of the 5th FirstBank Agric & Export Expo in Lagos on Wednesday, where financial and agricultural sector stakeholders gathered to confront a longstanding problem: traditional commercial loans simply do not fit the planting, harvest and processing cycles that define farming.
The bank chief said the institution was shifting its operational focus from high-level conversations to targeted execution and capital deployment.
“Our objective is not only to showcase opportunities within agriculture and exports but also to facilitate the connections, partnerships, financing solutions, market access opportunities, and knowledge exchange required to transform ideas into thriving enterprises,” Alebiosu said.
“Over the years, this Expo has evolved into a leading platform for conversations and collaborations that advance Nigeria’s agricultural and non-oil export sectors.”
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo Olu, represented by Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems Ruth Olusanya, reinforced the message, stressing that financial institutions must adapt to the unique operational realities of agribusinesses rather than imposing conventional short-term models on long-term agricultural ventures.
“A good harvest without financing cannot become a good business, and a good product without access to markets cannot become a successful export.”
Our financing structures must recognise the realities of agriculture, including planting and harvest cycles,” Sanwo Olu said.
“This is an area where institutions such as FirstBank can make a transformative difference.”
Sanwo Olu also urged financial institutions and agro processors to prioritise local value addition, warning that raw commodity exports limit economic prosperity.
“If you produce and just export raw, you remain perpetually broke. You add value to it, you determine the global price,” he said.
FirstBank Chief Economist Chinwe Egwim provided the macroeconomic context, noting that agriculture contributes over 20 percent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product but generates just 4.1 percent of total merchandise export earnings.
“When a sector that is contributing as high as 20 percent to total GDP is only contributing about 4.1 percent to merchandise trade, that creates compelling growth opportunities,” Egwim said.
“Capital becomes more powerful when it connects these opportunities rather than treating each part of the value chain in isolation.”
She advised agricultural exporters to shift from a commodity first approach to a market-led strategy, designing products around international buyer specifications, certification needs and supply reliability.
Consul General of Brazil in Lagos, Ronaldo Vieira, shared insights from Brazil’s two-century agricultural transformation, noting that sustainable agro-export expansion relies on integrated collaboration between public policy, research bodies, private finance and farmers.
Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago also spoke, calling for stronger focus on agricultural value chains, food production and export oriented investment.
Aiyedatiwa said Ondo’s potential in cocoa, oil palm, cassava, fisheries and livestock would only translate into prosperity if government and the private sector developed the full value chains around those commodities.
“Comparative advantage alone does not create prosperity. Our responsibility as government is to convert the comparative advantage into competitive advantage,” he said.
Bago warned that Nigeria’s dependence on food imports was unsustainable, revealing that the country had imported food worth more than $3 billion in the year, with the figure potentially reaching $4 billion before year end.
“It is scary. We need to feed ourselves. Food sovereignty is very paramount,” he said.
The two day expo brought together over 2,000 participants and 100 exhibitors, focusing on strategies to enhance cold chain logistics, storage capacity and trade linkages under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
For Nigeria’s farmers and exporters, the message from Lagos was clear: the money exists, but it must be structured to match the rhythm of the land, not the ledger.
