By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Despite the rising prices of stable foods, President Muhammadu Buhari says the inflation is temporary and his administration is searching for solutions.
Food prices began to rise in April at the onset of coronavirus lockdown when traders complained that policemen demanded bribe from foodstuff truck drivers, although the government exempted such vehicles from restrictions on movement.
Traders said policemen collected bribe from them at checkpoints, and they had to pass the additional cost to consumers.
By April, a 50kg bag of garri, cassava flour – the cheapest and commonest poor man’s food across Nigeria, North and South – doubled in price from N6,000 to N12,000.
“A 50kg bag of Nigerian rice that we used to buy for between N14,000 and N15,000 now costs N21,000,” Peter Ogaa, a trader, told TheNiche at the time.
“The price of a 50kg bag of imported rice has risen from N22,000 to N28,000. A 50kg bag of beans now costs N14,700 instead of N8,500.”
Food prices have been increasing ever since, despite the easing of lockdown on interstate travel.
On Wednesday, Buhari said providence has been kind to Nigeria with the rains for a bumper harvest that would crash food prices but his concern is that exploitation by traders may make any such relief a short lived one.
“This year has indeed tested us in ways that globalisation has never been tested since the turn of the century. These challenges have disrupted lives and supply chains all over the world, and Nigeria has not been spared,” Buhari said.
He spoke in a statement issued through his Media Assistant, Garba Shehu.
“The effect has been deeply felt in the delays encountered in procurement of raw materials for local production of fertilizer (damaging standing crops before harvest) and the speculative activities by a number of rice processors who are ready to pay for paddy at any price to keep their mills running non-stop.
“But of all these problems, the most worrisome are the activities of ‘corrupt’ middlemen (with many of them discovered to be foreigners) and other food traders who serve as the link between farmers and consumers found to be systematically creating an artificial scarcity so that they can sell at higher prices.
“In dealing with these problems, the administration has, in line with its ease of doing business mantra, avoided imposing stockholding restrictions, in order not to discourage investments in modern warehousing and cold storage,” Buhari added.
He said he has just approved the release of food items from the strategic reserves, including 30,000 tonnes of maize to animal feeds producers to ease the high cost of poultry production.
He explained that his administration has raised some of these issues with food producer associations, particularly those of rice and other grains, and “with their cooperation, the high food prices should soon be a thing of the past.”
Buhari expressed hope that investment in the agro-allied sector by the private sector will slash the price of domestic production of farm inputs, especially fertilizer, create employment, and ease pressure on foreign reserves.
He said one of these major investments is the Dangote fertilizer plant projected to come on stream by the fourth quarter of this year.
He urged government agencies and policymakers with responsibility and visibility on market activities to remain focused on removing structural impediments to the production and free movement of agricultural produce.
Buhari reiterated his resolve to end food price inflation.
“Nigerians have already suffered grave economic losses owing to the coronavirus pandemic, and the … administration will do all in its power to ensure that our people do not continue to suffer additionally from high food prices.”