The President Muhammadu Buhari during his nationwide broadcast in commemoration of the 61st independence anniversary of Nigeria, revealed the reason behind the high prices of food in the country.
While acknowledging that the nation’s food capacity had increased, Buhari lamented the high prices of food, which he claimed was caused by middlemen who ‘buy and hoard these essential commodities for profiteering.’
The President said, “Unfortunately, as our food production capacity has increased, food prices have been going up due to artificial shortages created by middlemen who have been buying and hoarding these essential commodities for profiteering.”
In his speech, Buhari noted that the Federal Government had made plans to end the ‘disruptive and unpatriotic hoarding activities’, as well as ensure that food prices would be affordable for Nigerians.
He said, “To address this, I am hereby directing the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to rehabilitate the National Food Reserve Agency and also work with security agencies, the Nigerian Commodity Exchange, and the National Assembly to find a lasting solution to these disruptive and unpatriotic hoarding activities.”
The President further revealed that with some water projects, the enhancement of food production would be better in the country.
“To further enhance food production, we have completed several new dams and are in the process of rehabilitating several River Basin Development Authorities to enhance groundwater supply for rainfed agriculture as well as surface water for irrigation agriculture.
“The water projects we completed between 2015 to 2020 have improved Nigerian’s access to potable water to 71% between 2015 and 2020. This means 12.5 million additional Nigerians now have direct access to potable water,” Buhari said.
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