President Bola Tinubu has ordered immediate action to stem rising food prices and ensure sustainable food security in the country.
At a briefing on Thursday in Abuja by Mr Dele Alake, Presidential Adviser on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, Tinubu said the interventions were meant to have immediate impact on the most vulnerable Nigerians.
“As a hands-on- leader who follows developments across the country everyday, Mr. President is not unmindful of the rising cost of food and how it affects the citizens. While availability is not a problem, affordability has been a major issue to many Nigerians in all parts of the country.
“This has led to a significant drop in demand thereby undermining the viability of the entire agriculture and food value chain.”
To contain this trend, the President announced the declaration of a state of emergency on food security, and other measures.
He said all matters pertaining to food and water availability and affordability, now fall within the purview of the National Security Council.
The president said other iniiatives would be deployed in the coming weeks to reverse the inflationary trend and guarantee future uninterrupted supplies of affordable foods to ordinary Nigerians.
“As with most emergencies, there are immediate, medium- and long-term interventions and solutions.
“In the immediate term, we intend to deploy some savings from the fuel subsidy removal into the Agricultural sector focusing on revamping the agricultural sector.”
