Speaking with the media in Abuja, Baba-Ari noted that “very soon in the next few months, we will start a business because we had to first put our house in place. We have gotten warehouses which we have renovated and we have gotten people we are going to do business with, people who will aggregate and place in our warehouse and trade in exchange, though within the next month or 2, you will see us starting to trade.”
She said that trading will “help in the sense that farmers will now know that they can produce and be able to get money”, noting that NCX will create more jobs. “it has created interests in Agriculture in the country.”
According to her: “People now know that through Agriculture, you can really become rich, the country can gain and when we trade on exchange, there is a normal percentage that goes directly to the TSA, so the government is generating income. The Farmers are been paid remunerative prices.”
The MD explained that: “We deal with Maize, Sorghum, Cashew, Soya Beans, Sesimi seeds, Cardi Rice and Ginger. You will find out that some of these are cash crops are local produce because we deal with both the cash crops for export and domestic consumption.”
She further explained that: “The Nigeria Commodity Exchange was set up basically to replace the commodity boards that were abolished in the 1980s. You know, those boards set prices and then they will buy off farmers, give them prices that were not commiserated to what they were giving board people.”
“Those boards became involved with lots of infractions and thereby were later abolished and the government felt that it is better to set up an institution that will replace those commodity boards. Fortunately, at that point in time, we were a stock exchange. So, the government felt instead of having 2 stock exchanges, let’s have 1 and then changed formerly known Abuja Stock Exchange to Commodity Exchange.”
Baba-Ari continued: “So, that was how we came about in 2001 and we didn’t start operations until about 2007. However, the intent of the Exchange was to diversify the economy from being oil based to Agriculture and how did the government intend to do that ,it intended to open the space to farmers, so that they could produce more, get realistic prices because what is in vogue is that the middlemen are having a filled day.”
“They buy prices from farmers at very ridiculous prices below their reduced costs and then go and sell it to processors and export them at very high prices. You find out that these farmers are in a state of perpetual poverty. These farmers will then have no choice but to go back to their farms and gain a penny just to feed,” she stated.
The MD lamented limited funding as a hindrance to smooth commodity exchange. “In co-operate commodity exchange, the staff should be out relating to the farm operations, our commodity business is not to sit down in the office alone, you need to be out there sensitizing the people and telling them the reason why they should trade on exchange, the gains that are there and why they should leave what they are doing and tow another line, they need constant education and we need a whole a lot of money for that alone.
“We need to go on TV, Radio and all these are not free. We need funding to be able to sensitize. However, we have done a whole lot, we have been able to achieve a lot within out limited funding, we are able to draft warehouse receipt bill financing that will enable farmers to use their commodities as collateral to get short-term loans.”
“Though the bill has reached an advanced stage, that will enable farmers to have access to finance”, noting that NCX has set up laboratories for the testing of products quality. “Everything is set but we need strong government policies that will support trading on the exchange, once we have that we are ready to go,” she concluded.
and then