Dilemma of a nation in food crisis: Will Tinubu’s open border, tax free approaches solve the problem?

The announcement on Monday July 8, 2024 by the Federal Government granting approval of a 150-day duty-free import window for food commodities into Nigeria to tackle rising inflation which had impoverished many Nigerians, was inevitable.

This intervention shows a wall of difference between the leadership of President Tinubu and his predecessor Buhari who had thick skin to citizens’ plight, and who built the foundation for the present situation of the country.

President Tinubu approved the 150-day duty-free window for the importation of maize, husked brown rice, and wheat as a strategy to combat rising food inflation in Nigeria for several reasons which include: To reduce food prices: By allowing the duty-free importation of essential food items, the government aims to increase the supply of these products in the market. An increased supply can help lower prices, making food more affordable for the population.
Another reason is for the purpose of addressing shortages: Nigeria has faced shortages in the production of certain staple foods due to various factors such as climate change, insecurity, and other disruptions in agricultural activities.

Importing these items duty-free helps bridge the gap between demand and local supply.
The third reason is for the purpose of controlling the current haphazard inflation: High food prices contribute significantly to overall inflation. By lowering the cost of key food items through duty-free imports, the government hopes to mitigate inflationary pressures and stabilize the economy.

Other tenable argument would be to support vulnerable populations: Rising food prices disproportionately affect low-income households. By reducing the cost of staple foods, the government can provide some relief to these vulnerable groups, ensuring better food security and nutrition.

The free import window will also encourage agricultural reforms: While addressing immediate food shortages, this measure will also give the government some time to implement and support longer-term agricultural reforms and initiatives aimed at boosting domestic production and achieving food self-sufficiency.

Overall, the 150-day duty-free window is a short-term intervention aimed at stabilizing food prices and ensuring food security while longer-term solutions need to be developed and implemented. For me, five months would not be enough because it will take nothing less than five years for the food gap to be met in Nigeria.

The Buhari government had allowed critical damages to the food sufficiency model that he met which was sustaining the nation. He allowed so much destruction by the bandits, and the recalcitrant Fulani herdsmen who undisguisedly displayed sense of entitlement to the government because one of their own clans who was sympathetic to their Fulanisation agenda was the president.

Buhari’s body language and subtle support, and protection gave them the impetus to destroy and take over farms, maim and kill farmers. This group of brigands forcefully took over hundreds of farm lands in places considered to be the food baskets of the nation where mass of food commodities is generated and supplied to different parts of Nigeria. Those are the major causes of the present food crisis in Nigeria.

Also, wrong advices from the economic advisers with ancient economic theories, led the Buhari administration to banning food items Nigeria did not have comparative capacity to produce in sufficient numbers. In fact, shutting down the borders against importation and exportation for almost two years was the worse damage any leader could inflict upon his country. Multi national manufacturing firms could not access forex, and therefore were not able to import raw materials for their production. They were being forced to chase very few of such inputs they could get locally, making huge demand on the limited supply resulting in higher pricing. That was the case with such items as rice, millets, sorghum, sugar etc. The macro-economic environment became tensed. The foreign exchange that was meant to be saved and available in surplus, due to the ban became extremely scarce, as politicians and unscrupulous black-market traders manipulated the situation under a very corrupt CBN leadership.

Enough research was not done to identify factors influencing high inflation and forex imbalance. A 50kg imported bag of rice that was being sold for N10,000 jumped up to N30,000 after the ban, and it started climbing to its present state at over N100,000 in a country where minimum wage is N30,000 a month. Local rice farmers and millers had not started planting, nor set up plants when President Buhari jumped the gun banning rice importation. It became an issue of the higher the demand, the higher the price.

Fortunately, President Bola Tinubu came with so much hope for the people. But his reckless announcement of removal of fuel subsidy on May 29, 2023 at his swearing ceremony became the monster that has been making life miserable for all Nigerians, with chain reactions that have brought misery, sorrow, tears and deaths to hapless Nigerians.

The subsidy removal has had a significant impact on food inflation. Fuel subsidies typically help keep transportation and production costs lower, which in turn can help stabilize the prices of goods and services, including food. When these subsidies were removed, the cost of fuel has been increasing unabatedly, leading to higher transportation costs for goods. This rise in transportation costs is being passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices for food and other essential items creating galloping inflation.

Additionally, higher fuel prices have increased the cost of agricultural inputs like fertilizers and pesticides, which are essential for food production. This combination of factors couples with insecurity, have been contributing to rising food prices, leading to acute food inflation.

Though the announcement by the Minister of Agriculture and food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari of the 150 days foods import free window is part of efforts of the Presidential Accelerated and Stabilization Advancement Plan to mitigate the hues and cry of Nigerians, looks good, it is just a window dressing. The utmost long-term solution is to tackle the root causes of the problem.

Strategic Solutions to Foods Insecurity in Nigeria

Addressing food insecurity in Nigeria requires a multifaceted approach that considers the complex socio-economic, environmental, and political factors involved. Here are some strategies that could help mitigate food insecurity in the country.

Number one is to set up machinery for the improvement of agricultural productivity by encouraging farmers to embrace the use of modern farming techniques, such as precision agriculture, improved seed varieties, and efficient irrigation systems.

Government at all levels also needs to create access to inputs: Ensure that farmers have access to quality seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides.

Training and Education: Provide training programs for farmers on best practices, pest management, and sustainable farming methods.
Secondly, the government should as a matter of urgency begins to strengthen infrastructure that would enhance transportation networks: Improve rural roads and transportation networks to facilitate the movement of goods from farms to markets. Encourage public private partnership in the provision of Storage Facilities: Build and maintain adequate storage facilities to reduce post-harvest losses.

The Ministry of Agriculture should also create market access. This can be done by developing better market systems to help farmers sell their produce at fair prices.
Support for Smallholder Farmers.

Microfinance and Credit: Provide access to microfinance and credit facilities to enable smallholder farmers to invest in their farms.

Cooperatives: Encourage the formation of farmer cooperatives to enhance bargaining power and reduce costs through collective purchasing and selling.

The Ministry of Agriculture should strengthen agricultural extension services to support farmers with technical advice and information.

State and local governments should face reality of their peoples needs. They should support and cooperate with the federal government in addressing the food shortage situation of the nation. Every state should as a matter of necessity, prioritize agriculture development. Provide organize support base for farmers in their states
Policy and Governance. If the Tinubu government really wants to demonstrate sincerity of purpose it will embark on policy reforms that will support, protect and encourage many young populations to go into farming. The government can start this with: Land Reform: Implement land reform policies to secure land tenure for smallholder farmers, making it easier for them to invest in their land. Provide targeted subsidies and incentives to support agricultural production and reduce the cost of farming inputs.

Develop and implement comprehensive food security policies that address the needs of the most vulnerable populations.

Nothing stops the government from converting the National Youth Service Scheme into National Youth Farming Scheme, whereby all youth corps members are trained right from camp on various areas of agricultural farming, animal farming, seeds production etc. The host states should be mandated to provide weeded arable land, farm tools, farm inputs, and other resources, including financial resources required to succeed by the young corps members in their respective states. At the end, the state governments through the local councils will help to purchase whatever the youth corps are able to yield from their farm lands. Naturally, some of these corps’ members will embrace farming when they finished their service year. Moreso. they will have enough capital and experience to embrace farming rather than be looking for unavailable white-collar jobs, or go into crimes.

Lastly the Federal Government should begin to foster international partnerships to access funding, technology, and expertise, leverage international aid and support to implement large-scale food security programs and projects.

Implementing these strategies requires collaboration among government agencies, non-governmental organizations, private sector stakeholders, and the international community. A coordinated and sustained effort is essential to address the root causes of food insecurity and ensure long-term food security for Nigeria.

Odusote is a Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Consultant, a Partner at CMC Connect LLP, exclusive affiliate to Burson, based in Lagos, Nigeria.