Aduragbemi Omiyale
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday again blamed middlemen for the rise in food prices in the country, disclosing that security operatives and others to tackle the issue.
Addressing the nation on Friday morning to mark the 61st Independence Day celebration, the President alleged that these middlemen buy food items from farmers at cheaper prices only to sell them at a higher cost at the market.
He expressed frustration at this alleged act, which he said is carried out to create an artificial scarcity of food in the country, ostensibly to discredit his administration.
“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,” Mr Buhari lamented.
To address the issue, he said, “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.”
“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 President also stated.
Mr Buhari further said he has made efforts to ensure farmers get loans to increase their production so as to make the poor and vulnerable in society have a sense of belonging.
“To grant increased access to credit to the [poorest] and vulnerable, I have directed an increase in the disbursement of Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme loans to an additional one million beneficiaries laying more emphasis on the smallholding farmers through the farmers Moni program,” he said.
In recent times, the prices of food items at the markets have skyrocketed, largely due to insecurity in the northern part of the country, where most of these crops are produced.
Terrorists branded as bandits as well as Boko Haram have made farmers in the region abandon their farmlands because of incessant attacks.
In addition, the invasion of farms by herders in the north and some southern parts of Nigeria has brought about the scarcity of food at the markets, causing prices of the available ones to rise.
Mr Buhari, when he first ruled Nigeria as a military head of state in the 80s, blamed middlemen for the rise in the prices of food items at that time.
