The use of cosmetics has become so prevalent among us like  we wear our skin;  these cosmetics are no longer limited to the female gender as men now wear them too. Everyone needs to maintain good skin, everyone wants to appear attractive, everyone wants to smell nice. These human characteristics have given rise to an enormous cosmetic industry  which is valued at $380.2 billion as at 2019, and is projected to reach $463.5 billion by 2027.

Meanwhile, there has also been a shift in the industry whereby most cosmetics and personal care companies now use shea butter in their products, resulting in an increase in demand for shea butter.

The  shea butter does  not only serve  as cosmetics,  but also as medicines, cooking oil, hairdressing, candle wax, chocolates and confectionaries which take about 95% of its use.

It is however interesting to also note that West and Central Africa are the major natural habitats of the shea tree, and more than 50% of  world supply comes from Nigeria.

Demand for shea butter has grown in the European Union and the USA, thereby necessitating Nigeria as one of the West Africa shea host countries, to prioritize processing and export of shea products.

Oyo State is one of the 8 States in Nigeria where shea tree grows , and  apparently one of the major contributors to the 50%  world supply coming from Nigeria. Meanwhile, the processes of production are crude and done by local women and children that  are not equipped for improved processing and value addition.

In 2021, the Seyi Makinde led Oyo State Government in collaboration with  Shea Empowerment Foundation(SEF), and some other global players in the shea industry, kicked off an initiative targeted at promoting a sustainable business model for these women and children to promote the shea industry in Oyo State. The initiative is to train about 30,000 women in three years,  to unlock the potentials derivable from the country’s shea value chain.

This was also aimed to promote  these women by adding skills to them, building their capacity and concurrently expanding the economy of the State and country at large.

However, there is the need to purchase processing tools and machines rather than sending  the shea nuts to countries like Ghana for cleaning and processing, reducing our benefits and economic advantage in the shea industry,  and limiting our involvement in the value addition  processes.

The Oyo State Government as known to harness opportunities as  this, is therefore urged to direct more attention to this industry as it will help generate more employment opportunities, more wealth and expansion of the State’s economy,  and that of the country.

Oyo State is indeed blessed, and the Seyi Makinde administration is indeed farsighted enough to harness these various blessings.

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Oyo Truth is an independent online news platform/medium reporting up-to-date events, happenings and activities related to Oyo State, Nigeria.