The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate decreased to 32.15 per cent in August 2024 despite the recent hikes in the pump prices of petrol nationwide.
This figure represents a 1.25 percentage decrease from the 33.4 per cent recorded in July 2024 and the second consecutive monthly slowdown in inflation after a persistent rise in nearly two years.
The NBS in its Consumer Price Index report said the drop also signaled a slower pace in the increase of the average price level compared to the previous month.
For far too long, Nigerians have been under torment by the astronomical rise in the prices of basic foods and services in the marketplace. This gives room for a huge concern as the steep prices have battered the purchasing power of citizens, leading to uncertainty, an increase in poverty, and an unpalatable cost of living.
With food as a primary resource for human survival, the disruption caused by rising food inflation has further decimated their low wages.
At 87 million people, the World Bank said Nigeria’s poverty rate hit 38.9 in 2023. This is the second highest in the world behind India’s. A 2022 survey by the NBS said 133 million Nigerians are living in multidimensional poverty.
The 2023 Global Hunger Index said that Nigeria’s hunger level is “serious.” Nigeria ranks 109 out of 125 countries with a score of 28.3 per cent in the hunger index. This is a dismal outlook that should be improved on by the government at the grassroots, state, and federal levels.
“The current foreign exchange challenges have made it increasingly difficult for importers to access the necessary funds, leading to higher costs for consumers.”
High energy prices constitute another shambles. When the raw food finally arrives, citizens face another harsh reality to cook it.
Nigerians are feeling the strain as the cost of refilling cooking gas continues to rise, putting additional pressure on household finances. According to the latest data for July 2024, the average price of a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas has climbed to N14, 287.
Despite being a major oil-producing country, Nigeria still relies heavily on imports for its LPG supply.
The current foreign exchange challenges have made it increasingly difficult for importers to access the necessary funds, leading to higher costs for consumers.
The situation is very unfortunate. Prices are going higher, and Nigerian consumers are going through very difficult times because they can no longer afford gas and are now resorting to firewood, charcoal, and sawdust for cooking.
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, disclosed recently that President Bola Tinubu gave each of his ministers 1,200 bags of rice for distribution as palliatives.
According to him, his own bags will be given to the aged in his state.
The Lagos State Government commenced Phase II of its ‘Ounje Eko’ Food Discount Market on September 1.
These interventions help but only scratch the surface.
First, without adequate security, Nigeria cannot have food sustainability. The country is grappling with banditry, wanton killings, kidnapping, criminality, Islamic terrorism, and violent Fulani herdsmen attacks on farmers.
Consequently, farmers have abandoned their farmland for fear of bandits and herdsmen, thereby contributing to food shortages across the country.
In March, the Cocoa and Plantain Farmers Association of Nigeria said that despite the presence of security operatives, many farmers have abandoned their farmland due to incessant killing, kidnapping, and destruction of farms.
The situation is rampant in Benue, Plateau, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Katsina, and Borno, where violence plagues the states often regarded as Nigeria’s food belt.
In Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, and other states, bandits and terrorists hold sway, collecting levies or tributes from farmers before they can plant or harvest their crops.
SBM Intelligence said 2,134 persons were killed in the first quarter of 2024 under President Bola Tinubu. In December, about 150 villagers were massacred by bandits in Bokkos and Barkin Ladi local government areas in Plateau State during the Christmas festivities.
Resembling an annual ritual, Boko Haram Islamists beheaded 15 rice farmers harvesting the crop in Borno State last November. In November 2020, the Islamists had similarly beheaded 76 rice farmers in Zabarmari in the same state.
Unfortunately, the situation is compounded by poor rural roads across the country. Out of its 200,000km road network, 87 per cent is in a deplorable condition, according to the World Bank.
In contrast, India built 300,000km of roads between 2000 and 2010, thereby reducing farm losses from 80 to 20 per cent and encouraging citizens to return home to farm.
The roads are a death trap, leading to farm losses and a bulwark to the movement of food and raw materials in the country. The state governments should stop making excuses for this; they should prioritise the development of rural roads to ease the agriculture business.
They must tackle the menace of ‘nuisance taxes’ on the roads. These taxes, collected by amorphous non-state actors, hinder the evacuation of produce and add to the final prices of food items.
The Federal Government, which had earlier stated that it would collaborate with states to reduce the number of taxes from over 80 taxes to nine, should unveil its plans on this quickly.
To ensure food security, Tinubu and his National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, the police, and other security agencies, must be in the driver’s seat of Nigeria’s security architecture.
Urgently, intelligence garnering, coordination, and technology must be deployed to combat the ugly descent into anarchy.
This calls for the urgent establishment of state police across the country. It will go a long way to place proactive measures to combat crime while quickly responding to vicious attacks on farmers and citizens. State governments and the federal and state parliaments should invoke the ‘doctrine of necessity’ to realise state police.
With its high population – estimated at 223 million – Nigeria needs a robust agriculture system to feed the populace. Therefore, it must develop infrastructure to hold excess rainwater for dry-season farming.
The government at the three tiers should support farmers with accountable and transparent incentives while encouraging farming by enabling farmers to secure mechanised farming tools in farm clusters. Low-interest loans should be made available to participants in these clusters.
The Presidential Livestock Reforms Implementation Committee co-headed by Professor Attahiru Jega has recommended the adoption of both ranching and open grazing, at least in the short term, to halt the recurring clashes between farmers and pastoralists across the country.
According to Jega, abandoning pastoralism abruptly for ranching without consideration for those huge populations who have their lives built around the system would not be advisable.
Nigeria should explore efficient and successful agriculture models within and outside the continent to reduce its high food inflation.
The government at every level should undertake tangible programmes to defeat hunger in the land.
