Why Foodstuffs are Expensive – FG

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has disclosed that only excessive production of food will the rising prices of Foodstuffs down in Nigeria.

He made this comment in Abuja on Thursday at the 9th edition of President Muhammadu Buhari Administration’s Scorecard Series (2015 to 2023).

Lai Mohammed said the achievements of the Buhari-led administration in terms self-sufficiency in most basic needs is applauded.

He also said the fact that the nation has yet to achieve outright self-sufficiency in the area of food production doesn’t mean the administration had done well since 2015.

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The minister noted that Buhari had advised Nigerians to grow what they eat and eat what they grow, thereby stressing that many had undermined the importance of the advice.

He said the outcome of the advice, which made Nigerians to reduce their dependency on foreign products, helped the nation feed itself during the global lockdown as exporting nations put their ports and borders under locks and keys which caused consuming nations to experience food scarcity.

“Imagine that Nigeria, during that period, had relied on imports to feed itself. In 2020, when the pandemic started, we were just five years into the Buhari administration’s food security programme.

“But we had enough food to eat and enough fertiliser to farm, thanks also to the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative. Even before the pandemic, our borders were closed and food imports were largely banned.”