10 January 2026
The scale of Nigeria’s palm oil economy is coming into sharp focus after new figures revealed that just two agribusiness companies are generating more revenue than entire regions of the country.
In 2024, the five South-East states together raised about ₦301.7 billion in internally generated revenue (IGR). In the same period, the 15 lowest-earning states across the federation combined generated roughly ₦346.4 billion. By contrast, two publicly listed palm oil companies — Presco Plc and Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc — are producing comparable sums on their own.
In the first half of 2025 alone, Presco recorded revenues of about ₦198.7 billion, while Okomu posted approximately ₦129.8 billion, bringing their combined six-month turnover to ₦328.6 billion.
If projected across a full year, the two companies would far exceed the annual IGR of the entire South-East and rival that of many multi-state blocs.
These figures were highlighted on Saturday by Osita Chidoka, former Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps and a public policy advocate, who used them to argue that Nigeria is dramatically under-investing in one of its most powerful economic assets: the oil palm.
“Two companies, in six months, earned more than all the South-East states combined in a year,” Chidoka wrote. “This shows what is possible when the palm is treated as a serious economic crop, not just subsistence farming.”
The numbers also expose a deeper contradiction in Nigeria’s economy. Despite its historic position as a global leader in palm oil, the country spent about $128 million importing crude palm oil from Malaysia in 2024, a sign that domestic production still falls far short of demand.
For Chidoka, this gap represents both a lost industrial opportunity and a policy failure. He argues that palm oil should be approached as a long-term national investment, capable of generating foreign exchange, supporting rural livelihoods, and expanding the tax base of state governments.
Nigeria was once the world’s largest producer of palm oil before plantations in Southeast Asia overtook West Africa.
Chidoka believes reclaiming that position is still possible if state governments actively enable large-scale plantations while households are encouraged to plant and maintain palm trees.
He illustrated his point with a personal example: his family recently harvested palm fruits from their compound and used them to prepare Atama soup, a reminder that the crop is both a household resource and a national economic engine.
“We plan to plant more palm trees this year,” he said. “Every household should have palm trees, and every state should be enabling palm plantations.”
As pressure grows on Nigerian states to increase their internally generated revenue, the contrast between government finances and the earnings of palm oil firms is sharpening a long-running debate over whether the country is fully harnessing the economic power of its agricultural heritage.
