The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) Thursday said the country would take delivery of 105, 000 metric tonnes of basic raw materials for fertilizer production from Russia and Canada on June 2, 2022.
Managing Director of NSIA, Mr Uche Orji, said this while speaking at the weekly media briefing organised by the Presidential Media team in Abuja.
He said the federal government has secured letters of credit for three vessels of basic raw materials arriving the country.
He said the expected items include potash and ammonium that are being imported from Russia and Canada.
“Letters of credit have been established for four vessels of phosphate. Two vessels are currently being discharged, the third vessel is currently on queue at the Onne port for discharge and the fourth vessel has been nominated,” he said.
He said a vessel is currently discharging at the Intels port while the other is inbounded with ETA of May, 2022.
“In 2022, I know one question many of you are going to ask me is, potash difficulties because there were headlines about potash. It was true. There was potash difficulty. About 30 per cent of the world’s potash comes from Russia and Belarus. So, when the crisis started there was a blockade, there were sanctions and all kinds of issues, and we couldn’t get potash,” he said.
“But now, I’m glad to report that we have solved the potash problem. On June 3rd, the first vessel will arrive from Russia. On June 6th, the second vessel will arrive from Canada.
“The President gave us the instruction to go and solve it, find it wherever you can, bring it into the county. We will have enough potash between now and the middle of June for all our needs for the year.
“Last year, we had enough to produce up to 40 per cent of the country’s need in inventory in the warehouses, so that’s coming out. Central bank is one of the big buyers, and they’re releasing it,” he said.
