Nigerian government adopts measures to reduce food prices

Audu Ogbeh, Babatunde Fashola, Lai Mohammed and Okechukwu Enelamah briefing the media after the Federal Executive Council meeting today
Audu Ogbeh, Babatunde Fashola, Lai Mohammed and Okechukwu Enelamah briefing the media after the Federal Executive Council meeting today

The Federal Government of Nigeria says it has adopted some measures to reduce the price of food items.

This was revealed by the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, on Wednesday while addressing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council, FEC.

The Council had last week set up a task force to advise the government on how best to address the rising cost of food items across the country.

Mr. Ogbeh said the task force submitted an interim report to the council on Wednesday. He said the committee had identified that the hike in cost is “not due to shortage but high cost of transportation”.

He said food items are generally moved across Nigeria with heavy trucks and the price of diesel which has gone up has therefore, led to increase in prices.

He said the government had therefore, decided to “start using railway wagons to transport food items.”

The minister said the use of wagons to transport cattle from the north to Lagos has already greatly helped in reducing cost and will be replicated in food distribution.

“We will also work with state governments to reduce delays experienced by trucks along the roads through all sort of taxes by local governments,” he said.

Mr. Ogbeh also said the government has decided to adopt the “Ivory Coast model” in which trucks distributing food items are given special labels.

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  • Policy Group

    @disqus_sIP9t47GZY:disqus

    The BUHARI CABINET is lacking in reasoning ability and so doesn’t see the wood for the trees.
    The shambolic cabinet of Ministers sees only trucks as the cause of higher cost of food items,
    wrong, there are three simultaneous causes; one, the devaluation of the Naira over against
    stagnant wages is the main cause; two, the increase in the electricity tariff is a critical price
    changer, because it feeds into all services and products; three, the Buhari hike of petrol
    price at the gas station. No sane government will endeavour those three hikes together.

    • dami

      Did you read the write up at all?
      the price of food being debated here is locally grown crops / produce – so so devaluation has no effect on it
      trucks use diesel and not petrol – this was identified as the main cause of the price increase therefore rail has been proposed as a solution

      the farming process in Nigeria does not make use of electricity (crops) as farmers do not store anything…they harvest and move to market for sale immediately..this causes a lot of waste but it has been like this for decades…this is not a new situation

      • NDPOPE

        Seriously? This you just write this? You must me joking right?

        • Guest

          He is not joking o! It is the normal way most of Buhari’s supporters think Even at that,they are think betterthan Buhari himself sha..

    • Styno12

      This government needs to bring in sound economists to proffer solution to the economy. The impact of transportation cost alone is not enough to cause this level of inflation. They are incompetenet.

  • Dokita Omowe

    @disqus_sIP9t47GZY:disqus: My own way of looking at this running comedy
    of errors is simple The Buhari government recklessly threw bangers into a
    storage tank of petrol tank and now runs around to look for fire-fighters, as
    if wisdom no longer means that prevention is better than cure. Not a few people
    will keep hissing at the Buhari government for irritating thousands of other
    Nigerians out there with higher intelligence quotient. Because many other better educated Nigerians
    recoil at the ignorance of the Buhari government, neither Buhari nor his
    assistant – Vice President Yemi sinbajo – has had one day of fame in office
    since 2015.

  • Akwaowo

    Hahaha! These people are funny. Is this what they set up a task force [or whatever] to discover? Chai! Nigeria has truly entered “one chance”!

  • Ifeanyi

    Just look at the quality of a cabinet decision. Just negodu! We’re in trouble!

    • Adewale

      If you have a better idea, you can articulate it here and we will take it up rather than heaping blame on people that are old enough to be your father. I doubt if you know anything about farming or how farm produces are moved from rural areas to urban locations.

      • Alex

        My Dad won’t be so disgraceful and criminal minded like those your rulers.If my Dad gets involved in such a wicked acts like our old rulers does,it will disowned him.

  • Mamman Bako

    Big clowns, do they even hear their own voices? Rail wagons, how many rail tracks still work in Nigeria? And where are the rail tracks? This is misleading, surely this can’t be the solution. This is elementary school thinking.

  • Toughie Man

    This is just a cosmetic approach and not a serious move to address the food crisis in the country. It is not just the movement or transportation challenges. Note: There is no single major food producing area that food is not expensive. The cassava where garri, starch and other food items come from is highly exorbitant right at source, same for palm produce, yams, rice and other staple food items. Rail lines are not functional in the south east and south south, how will the states and population living here be impacted with this surface approach by Ogbeh and NEC? More protests lie ahead if they feel this is the only remedy. Instead of dying from hunger, it is better all of us come out and be crushed by the police.If government feels that is the only way out of the woods

  • NOI sucks

    These old men are simply dumb. How many rail tracks work in Nigeria? How many state have rail tracks? We don enter one chance. How many farmers has Ogbe liaised with to know their problems, when Fulani herdsmen keep messing up the farms and killing them in the process.

    • Alex

      They all has the whole rail tracks in their imagery brain .is this one talking not a fossil. That man’s name was ringing a bell in my head when I was suckling.

  • Broadway2

    Where are the valid steps here?

  • Mr Integrity

    I am very disappointed with this set of cabinet…. Even lay man on the street knows the root cause of Price hike epecially the food price in Nigeria. If transport is the reason then why is the food stuff costly in the north, or are they transporting the food consumed in the north from south? There are direct and indirect causes of price hike in Nigeria. No. 1. Cost of fertiliser increases from N2500- N3000 in 2015 to N9,000-12,000 per bag. 2. Price of seedling also increase. 3. ban on importation of foreing food stuff like rice and oil without increase in local production gives unnecessary presure to the locally produced ones there by increasing the price. The list is endless. It is sad that they dont even know the problem yet they want profer solution.

  • Odus

    Be very careful now – This special pass can now be used by greedy fellows who will now transport something else. The security agents should also be put on notice to triple check any truck loaded with agricultural products. Check there contents and know their point of origination and their destinations. Special passes may also be used to smuggle other things like weapons or biological stuffs. Please look into all of these things and not just the immediate rush to reduce food prices.

  • IIS

    Just when you thought they had run out of mindless things to say and they drop this one. Alright load up the train wagons and wait for food prices to drop. Useless cabinet!!

  • new republic

    Clueless cabinet,Imagineeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

  • Deansmart

    Government both state and federal governments should create food banks in all the local governments with subsidize price this will go a long way to alleviate hardship

  • thusspokez

    Mr. Ogbeh said the task force submitted an interim report to the council on Wednesday. He said the committee had identified that the hike in cost is “not due to shortage but high cost of transportation”.

    So my question would be: (1) what is the average transportation cost as percentage of sales in Nigeria, and (2) by how much has it increased in the last three years.

    BTW On this subject of inflation, is the minister of finance, Folake Adeosun still on her job or Mr. Ogbeh is temporarily seating in for her? Or Nigerian minister, once a minister can encroach on another ministry’s responsibilities.

  • Alex

    Those ruling us are mad.why can’t food prices sky rocket. No roads,no electricity,no security,all infrastructures that powers a 21century economy is not in existence?

  • Otile

    God forbid. What kind of sheepish cabinet do we have? Alhaji Audu Ogbeh has nothing to offer.

  • Dejandon

    They must address all the area boys that stop food transporters on the way to collect money too.