Natural rubber and automobile tyre production alone could match the $25bn we generate from crude oil exports annually

By Ayo Akinfe 

(1) Today is August 3. In this day in 1900, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company founded by this gentleman named Harvey Firestone. Cashing in on the booming automobile market, Mr Firestone soon saw the huge potential for marketing tyres for and the company was a pioneer in the mass production of them 

(2) Now, you know that in 1926, the company opened one of the world's biggest rubber plantations in Liberia, West Africa, spanning over 1m acres. Why Nigeria did not seek w similar faculty at independence is beyond me

(3) As recently as around 2010, the world’s six major natural rubber producers were Indonesia, Malaysia, Ivory Coast, Thailand, Liberia and Nigeria. They had an association called the International Natural Rubber Organisation. Basically, you can only grow natural rubber in the tropical rain forest, kind of like cocoa

(4) Natural rubber is not cultivated widely in its native continent of South America due to the existence of South American leaf blight, and other predators. This has taken the likes of Brazil and Colombia out of the market. Countries like Nigeria should be making the most of this 

(5) More than 28m tonnes of rubber were produced in 2017, of which approximately 47% was natural. Since a slight majority of world rubber is synthetic, derived from petroleum, the price of natural rubber is determined to a large extent by prevailing crude oil prices

(6) Nigeria is one country that has the capacity to produce both natural and synthetic rubber in abundance, so should automatically be the world’s number one tyre producer. We have the crude oil and once upon a time had rubber plantations. Obafemi Awolowo once had a huge rubber plantation but I doubt if that is functioning any more 

(7) As of today, the three largest producers Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, together account for around 72% of all natural rubber production. I find that totally unacceptable. They have formed the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC), which determines export volumes, stocks and price

(8) In 1991, Nigeria became Africa’s largest rubber producer with an annual output of 155,000 tonnes. In 2016, production peaked at 156,000 tonnes but since then, output has been on the decline mainly because we have refused to replenish old trees. Estimates suggest that Nigeria is losing upwards of $6bn in potential revenues because of its inability to supply rubber exports to the rest of the world

(9) Can someone please explain to me why the Nigerian government has not invited the likes of Firestone, Dunlop, Michelin, Goodyear, Pirelli, etc to open rubber plantations in Nigeria. They should all have massive manufacturing plants churning out millions of tyres on a daily basis, employing probably about 1m people 

(10) Analysts say that in total, the rubber industry generates about $18bn in the US each year. If Nigeria could maximise its potential for rubber production, she would be able to provide up to one-third of the US market with affordable rubber. If we are serious about rubber and tyre production, we could easily match the $25bn a year we get from crude oil exports from this sector alone but is the political will there?