Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu has declared a state of emergency on food security, following soaring prices of food items in the country. The move follows increasing outcry by Nigerians over the rising cost of living that has made life in the country unaffordable for many.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the President said the state of emergency will tackle the rising cost of food and tame food inflation.
“Today, we declared a state of emergency and unveiled a comprehensive intervention plan on food security, affordability, and sustainability, taking decisive action to tackle food inflation. These are steps towards a more food-secure Nigeria for all.
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“Our new initiatives will tackle rising food costs, enhance agriculture, and boost job creation. No one will be left behind in our efforts to ensure affordable, plentiful food for every Nigerian,” the statement said.
Food inflation has risen to 24.82% as of May 2023, compounding the struggle of Nigerians to provide adequate food for their families.
Tinubu said his administration remains committed to ensuring every Nigerian has access to affordable food.
Under his ‘Comprehensive Intervention Plan for Food Security, Affordability, and Sustainability,” Tinubu outlined 17 steps his government will take to ensure food security, having “acknowledged that affordability, not availability, is the key issue for Nigerians.”
The 17 steps are as follows:
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Inclusion of food and water availability and affordability issues within the purview of the National Security Council.
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Deployment of initiatives to reverse the inflationary trend and ensure future supplies of affordable foods.
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Short-term strategy to use savings from fuel subsidy removal to revamp the agricultural sector.
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Release of fertilizers and grains to farmers and households (free) as immediate intervention.
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Urgent synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure adequate irrigation and all-year-round farming.
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Creation of a National Commodity Board to review food prices and maintain a strategic food reserve.
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Engagement of security architecture to protect farms and farmers.
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Role of the Central Bank in funding the agricultural value chain.
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Activation of land banks and increase of available arable land for farming.
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Collaboration with mechanization companies to clear more forests and make them available for farming.
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Usage of river basins for irrigation to ensure continuous farming.
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Deployment of concessionary capital/funding to the sector especially towards fertilizer, processing, mechanization, seeds, chemicals, equipment, feed, labor, etc.
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Improvement of transportation and storage methods for agricultural products to reduce costs and food prices.
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Increase in revenue from food and agricultural exports.
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Improvement of trade facilitation by working with Nigerian Customs to remove bottlenecks.
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Massive boost in employment and job creation in the agricultural sector.
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Target to double the percentage of employment in agriculture to about 70% in the long term.
This one is like electricity, if you have it available, you know that something is working. For food, the cost of your breakfast, lunch or dinner will measure the success of the policy. You don’t need World Bank or IMF to provide data on this. No benchmark was provided, so how do you measure affordability, N1k, N2k or N3k for family meal? There’s no point speaking plenty grammar, until you start spending less than 15% of your income on food, some are currently spending over 70%.
At 1k per meal, a small family will be spending N60k to N90k per month, depending on whether they eat twice or thrice daily. If you benchmark both parents with minimum wage, it means that their combined income can provide two meals per day, excluding other bills. We are allergic to numbers, but they give meaning to everything you do, so if N1k per meal is not feasible, you know what it means at N2k or N3k; but nobody pays attention anyway, only empty political talks all over the place.
Some things are self-evident, this would be one of them.