Exactly 17 months after President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency on food security, availability and affordability, Nigerians pay about three times more for food.
Tinubu stated in July 2023 that he was not unmindful of the rising cost of food Nigerians were dealing with. He said his administration would use savings from the fuel subsidy removal to revamp the agricultural sector so more food could be available.
The president also promised the creation of a “National Commodity Board that will review and continuously assess food prices as well as maintain a strategic food reserve”.
Fast-forward to Wednesday, after presenting the 2025 National budget to the National Assembly, Tinubu repeated this promise in an X post where he said, “Food Security is non-negotiable”.
Food Security is non-negotiable!— Bola Ahmed Tinubu (@officialABAT) December 18, 2024
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Tinubu’s post on food security has since generated a lot of hitback from Nigerians who have had to pay more for food since he assumed office on May 29, 2023.
Also, during his budget presentation, the president said his administration would be prioritising food security and supporting local farmers with funding and inputs.
He said this was necessary to ensure that no Nigerian goes to bed hungry.
“Increasing agricultural production is central to our food security agenda, but insecurity has crippled this vital sector. We are supporting our farmers with funding and inputs to reignite productivity,” the president’s speech reads in part.
“Food security is non-negotiable. In this regard, we are taking bold steps to ensure that every Nigerian can feed conveniently, and none of our citizens will have to go to bed hungry.”
Tinubu’s statement came only two days after the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published a report showing that Nigeria’s inflation rate had increased by 0.72 per cent. This means that it moved from 33.88 per cent in October to 34.60 per cent in November.
The same report also revealed how Nigeria’s food inflation figure was 7.08 per cent higher than what it was in November 2023. The NBS blamed this increment on higher prices required to purchase basic food items like yam, vegetable oil, rice, bread and others.
“The food inflation rate in November 2024 was 39.93% on a year-on-year basis, 7.08% points higher than the rate recorded in November 2023 (32.84%),” the NBS stated.
“The rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items; yam, water yam, coco yam, etc (potatoes, yam & other tubers class), guinea corn, maize grains, rice, etc (bread and cereals class), beer, pinto (tobacco class), and palm oil, vegetable oil, etc (oil and fats class).”
Using data from the NBS food watch list, FIJ compared the prices of selected food items in the month (July 2023) the president declared the emergency and what the prices were in recent weeks (October 2024 latest data published by the NBS).
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PRICES OF SELECT FOOD ITEMS IN JULY 2023
Commodity Price Mudu of Rice (a local measuring unit for rice) N653Beef BonelessN2,758500 grams of sliced breadN651A bottle of palm oil N1,208Two kilograms of garriN429Two kilograms of Golden Penny prepacked wheatN1,419
PRICES OF SELECT FOOD ITEMS IN OCTOBER 2024
CommodityPriceMudu of Rice (a local measuring unit for rice)N1,944Beef BonelessN5,858500 grams of sliced breadN1,550A bottle of palm oilN2,146Two kilograms of garriN1,198Two kilograms of Golden Penny prepacked wheatN3,747
These data showed that the prices of these commodities have doubled and tripled in some cases.
Some reports blame Nigeria’s rising cost of food on factors such as insecurity, high cost of transportation, inadequate food production and the weakening naira amongst others.
The post Nigerians Pay Triple for Food 17 Months After Tinubu’s Initial Food Security Declaration appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.