Think about this. There is not a single Nigerian person who does not consume chocolate in their diet at least once a week. Although many casually call them ‘tea’, “Milo”, “Ovaltine” and “BournVita” are, in fact, chocolate. There are chocolate desserts, chocolate ice-cream, chocolate cakes, and of course, all kinds of assorted chocolate bars for consumption in large quantity, and in variety of flavours.

Chocolate serves the purpose of being a nutrient as well as being the therapeutic offering of choice to the beleaguered and restless baby, the romantic and young at heart, the birthday boy and girl. It’s a stress buster for some, and a useful tool to lock away hunger for many others. This is not to talk of the many overweight still binging on the odd wrap of chocolate, and rural dwellers suddenly coming across a box of assorted chocolate wraps as a gift from a foreign trip.

When coming through major international airports, chocolate is one item that is always so conspicuous by its volume and presence on the duty-free counters. It is the time the traveller suddenly remembers friends, family and loved ones waiting to receive them at the other end. Its attractive packaging is a temptation difficult to resist at times, even for those watching their weight.

Consumption of chocolate in some form or another is a daily routine in the average household in this country. If anything is guaranteed to find ready-made buyers on highstreets and in corner shops, it is chocolate. No retailer ever complained of being unable to dispose of their chocolate stock. In terms of economics, the chocolate’s supply and its demand are almost at an equilibrium. So, how come it is not being turned into a big money spinner in Nigeria?

The obvious answer to the question is that there are no Nigerian manufacturers of the product. I hear some say, wait a minute, what about Cadbury? What about Nestle? Yes, these are Nigerian-registered companies, but they are not owned by Nigerians. It is like saying Julius Berger is indeed a Nigerian-registered company, but it is not a Nigerian-owned entity. It is German, as a matter of fact. Nestle is a Swiss multinational food and drink conglomerate, while Cadbury is a British multinational confectionary company.

The second question is, who supplies the multinational companies the raw materials they convert into chocolate? And, the third, perhaps most important question is, why can we not make our own indigenous chocolate and sell to others beyond our shores? It could wipe off the country’s external debts and dependence on crude oil overnight. It could also bridge the foreign exchange gap.

These raise enormously challenging issues of export capacity, propensity for foreign consumption and sheer lack of foresight by government. Africa supplies the bulk of the world’s cocoa, with Ivory Coast being the largest producer in the world, followed by Ghana and Indonesia. Despite being 4th largest producer of cocoa, the product represents only 2% of Nigeria’s total export, but is the 3rd largest source of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings after crude oil and gas.

Global revenues from export of cocoa stand at US$140bn annually. As the 4th largest producer of the product, Nigeria’s share of the market should be hovering around the US$35bn mark. Instead, it remains a paltry US$740m. Capacity to produce is one thing, ability to manufacture is another.

So, what is holding the country back? One reads in economics textbooks the principle of “comparative advantage”, by which a nation is encouraged to concentrate on what it does best, then, put it on the market and exchange for items it is not able to make. That principle has condemned Africa into the permanent status of producers of natural resources and consumers of manufactured products for decades. It has almost bled the continent to death. It has continually short-changed the continent for, it has deprived us of any bargaining power.

The people processing our raw materials, the clients, are the same people dictating prices through the structures of international finance controlled by their governments. Producers of raw materials, meanwhile, are not united with a common front to negotiate better terms for the sale of their produce. Instead, each country in Africa is forced to compete for the same (Western) buyers of Africa’s raw materials. The buyers are thus able to play one against the other.

Reading from various financial indices, total market capitalisation of cocoa produce is set to reach $US182bn by year 2025. This is set to add to the humongous profits by the chocolate manufacturers, the largest of which is America’s “Mars Wrigley”, whose sale topped $US18bn in 2019. Is it too much for us to come up with a manufacturing base for the product in Africa? The answer to the question is of course not. But, without requisite technology to set up production lines, there cannot be chocolate made in Nigeria.

Despite spending over US$30bn on the ill-fated Ajaokuta Steel Plant in Lokoja, Kogi State, in Nigeria, over the last 30 years, not a single rim of iron has come out of the location. So, to build any factory, we must rely on current manufacturers of cocoa products in the West to share their technology and know-how in order to make it possible for us to displace them in the chocolate market later in future. Is that a realistic expectation? Is it in their interest to ‘transfer’ chocolate technology which will enable us compete with them? Maybe, morally, yes. But, there is no morality in international capitalism, I am afraid.

The West have the technological advantage which gives them huge leverage over Africa’s vast raw materials, which serves to increase the standard of living for their people. Why should they surrender that? There are a dozen theological reasons why they should, but, there are also a dozen economic reasons why they should not. This is where foresight on the part of government is called for.

In the 1950s, on the eve of Nigeria’s independence, the Western Region of Nigeria under Chief Obafemi Awolowo initiated a cooperative business structure amongst cocoa farmers in the region. His government gave farmers the incentive to produce loads of cocoa based on a cast-iron guarantee to purchase every ounce brought to the region’s Cocoa Marketing Board at Ibadan. It was the first of its kind in the world. Every cocoa farmer in the region ran back to their farms and became financially comfortable. Cocoa farming became a runaway success. It generated seamless revenues for government and the farmers in equal measure.

Imagine if the Western Region had continued along that innovative path instead of being broken up into tiny (unviable) states, a multibillion dollar Nigerian multinational company would have emerged as the largest producer of chocolate in the world today. Imagine the domino effect on the rest of the country’s economy.

Food for thought indeed!

SOURCE (abridged): https://punchng.com/how-chocolate-could-make-nigeria-great/