The Minister of Agriculture Food and Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, said that Nigeria might close its borders to help lower the high prices of food.Â
He spoke about this in Abuja during a meeting with the Senate and the nation’s economic team.
They wanted to find solutions to the problem of rising inflation and the cost of living in the country.
Sen. Kyari said that one of the main reasons for the high prices of food was because the borders were not well guarded.
He explained that many agricultural products were being smuggled out of the country to neighboring countries without proper documentation.
He mentioned that foreign investors from countries like India, China, Turkey, and Britain were buying crops like soybeans and sesame at high prices but not sending the money back to Nigeria.
He also said that the Ministry of Agriculture was working hard to produce more food to meet the needs of Nigeria’s large population of over 230 million people. But there were challenges they needed to overcome, including economic problems.
Despite efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Ministry of Finance to control inflation, the inflation rate continued to rise.
Sen. Kyari suggested that if economic policies failed to work, they might have to consider closing the borders, which could cause problems with the ECOWAS agreement, or focus on producing food for the entire West African region.
In response to the immediate food shortage, President Bola Tinubu ordered the release of 42,000 metric tons of various food items from Nigeria’s strategic reserves and the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria. This was seen as a short-term solution to the problem.
The government was exploring different measures to address the rising cost of living and food insecurity in Nigeria, including releasing food reserves, encouraging rice millers to open their stores, and possibly importing food if necessary.
