That Nigeria is in a food crisis is not in doubt. The International Red Cross estimates 25 million of the nation’s citizens are going hungry.
That the government appeared to be caught off guard, announcing an “immediate response” in the form of the declaration of a state of emergency of food security, is the surprise.
Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s new president, abolished fuel subsidies and let the naira plunge — two necessary, but inflationary measures that were long overdue. Annual price growth, as expected, accelerated to an 18-year high, in part driven by imported food costs.
Some of the measures he announced to tackle surging food prices don’t appear to address what his adviser, Dele Alake, depicted as the problem, an ample supply of food at too high a cost.
The release of fertilizers to households, more irrigation and the clearing of forests will boost harvests but not necessarily cut production costs. Maintaining a strategic food reserve, something the government ostensibly was already doing, and finding cheaper transportation methods are two steps announced that could bring down prices.
A more intractable problem is resolving the chronic insecurity across the north of the country that has driven farmers from their homes, leaving them hungry and destitute.
Whether Tinubu’s measures will succeed remains to be seen. What is certain is that none of them are quick fixes.
And global developments aren’t helping.
Russia ended an almost-year-old agreementthis week that had allowed wheat from Ukraine, which Russia invaded, to be shipped from Black Sea ports to markets across the world.
That’s more bad news for Nigeria, the world’s second-biggest importer of the grain.
Centre for Nigeria Progress 