The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, says the Federal Government has procured some imported staple foods such as maize and wheat to tackle food shortages in Nigeria.
The minister made this known on Thursday in Abuja at an Inter-Ministerial Press Briefing, part of activities to mark Nigeria’s 64th independence anniversary.
He said the procured food items would soon arrive in Nigeria, emphasising that the importation measure is an interim measure so that it won’t affect local food production.
Edun said, “In the meantime, there is a short-term measure to import food. The government has already ordered procured maize and wheat which is on its way.
“It is critical that we do not disrupt domestic production of food, we do not disrupt farming in Nigeria by flooding the market with imports that now put prices where farmers are now discouraged from engaging in production and millers are discouraged from engaging in food processing.
“As a result, the conversations are on to see what quantity we can bring in without disrupting the agricultural sector.
“In the short term, yes, we are intervening through some imports and wet season procurement and delivery of the right import but in the long term, we must identify and put in place strategies to increase agriculture productivity.”
Nigeria is battling one of its worst economic crises in recent times, with rising living and energy costs, sparked by the twin policies of the government’s removal of petrol subsidy and unification of the foreign exchange windows in May 2023.
In August, aggrieved youths protested hunger and economic hardship for the first 10 days of the month. The country’s inflation stood at 32.15% in August, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of State Statistics (NBS).
The NBS said the food inflation rate in August 2024 was 37.52% on a year-on-year basis, which was 8.18% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (29.34%).
It attributed the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis to increases in prices of bread, maize, grains, guinea corn, bread, cereals yam, Irish potatoes, water yam, cassava tuber, palm oil, and vegetable oil, among others.
The Bola Tinubu administration alongside governors in the 36 states has rolled out some palliative measures but Nigerians continue to be lamentably hurt by the severe impact of inflation as the prices of food commodities and basic products multiply uncontrollably.
