Lagos: The Federal Government has raised a red flag over Nigeria’s staggering $10 billion annual food import bill, urgently warning that the country’s overreliance on foreign agro-products poses an imminent threat to its food sovereignty.
Speaking at the First Bank of Nigeria Ltd. ‘2025 Agric and Export Expo’ – a platform aimed at discussing and promoting strategies for Nigeria’s agricultural and export sectors – on Tuesday, August 19, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, emphasised the need to rethink agricultural financing and scale up domestic production to safeguard national resilience.
Kyari, represented at the event by his Special Adviser, Mr Ibrahim Alkali, highlighted the urgent need for increased investment in the agricultural sector.
He underscored the importance of fostering local production and boosting food exports as the nation seeks to reduce its dependence on foreign food supplies.
According to him, “Nigeria spends over $10 billion annually importing food such as wheat, rice, sugar, fish and even tomato paste. Agriculture already contributes 35 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product and employs 35 per cent of our workforce.”
Continuing, Kyari said, “We sit on 85 million hectares of urban land with a youth population of over 70 per cent under the age of 30, yet Nigeria accounts for less than 0.5 per cent of global exports.
“However, Nigeria earns less than $400 million from agro exports. To build a non-oil export economy, we must rethink how we finance agriculture,” he said.
He reiterated the Tinubu administration’s stance on ensuring food sovereignty of the country, while insisting on increased financing of agriculture.
“President Tinubu’s administration has made it clear that food sovereignty is the goal. Nigeria must not only feed itself, but do so on its terms, free from excessive dependency on imports.
“Sovereignty means ensuring that no Nigerian goes hungry because of shocks in the global food supply chain, allowing every community to stand on the strength of our land, our people and our productivity.
“Boosting domestic production and building support for exports are not separate agendas. They are two sides of the same coin.
“We have the land, the labour, and the markets, but we lack the system of financing, value addition and infrastructure that converts potential into prosperity.
“The fundamentals compel that we pilot from dependence on oil rigs to resilience in food and export earnings from rural commodity exports to value-added agribusiness.
“From fragmented farmer credit to structured financial systems that attract significant capital and from stereotyped perceptions to improved participation of youth in the agricultural sector,” Kyari said.
He also stressed the need for improved mechanisms and critical thinking to boost food security.
“Nigeria can do better if we begin to think critically and improve mechanisms such as revenue sharing, finance, agricultural goals with performance triggers, factoring forward contracts Pay-as-Harvest, and the rest.
“These are not abstract theories. They are working in real economies,” he said.
