Nigeria’s Federal Government has reaffirmed that food security sits at the heart of the country’s economic stabilisation strategy, poverty reduction agenda and national sovereignty, with senior ministers using a high-level quarterly engagement forum in Abuja to outline the administration’s agricultural reform efforts and stress the importance of citizen participation in governance.
The declaration came at the Quarterly Citizens and Stakeholders’ Engagement Session convened by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja on Friday. The forum brought together ministers, senior government officials, development partners, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders to assess the state of Nigeria’s food systems and the progress of ongoing agricultural programmes under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who addressed the forum, stated that agriculture occupies a strategic position in the Federal Government’s broader economic reform agenda, and that the administration is implementing programmes specifically designed to strengthen agricultural productivity and reinforce food supply chains.
“Food security is national security; a nation that feeds itself strengthens its independence, stabilises prices, creates jobs and reduces poverty,” Idris declared at the session.
His remarks framed food production not merely as a development sector priority but as a matter of sovereign importance, a perspective that has gained renewed urgency in Nigeria following years of insecurity in farming communities, rising food inflation, and the compounding pressures brought on by subsidy removal and currency depreciation since mid-2023.
Idris also used the occasion to speak to the philosophy undergirding the Tinubu administration’s engagement with citizens, describing the quarterly session as evidence of the government’s commitment to transparency and participatory governance.
“Governance must not operate in isolation from the people; it must be open, responsive and anchored on dialogue. Today’s engagement demonstrates this administration’s commitment to keeping Nigerians informed and involved,” he stated.
To situate the government’s current agricultural push within its wider economic trajectory, Idris recalled the state of the Nigerian economy at the point when the administration assumed office in May 2023. He noted that the country faced significant fiscal pressures, a heavy subsidy burden and severe exchange rate distortions, which necessitated what he described as difficult but necessary decisions.
The reference was an implicit acknowledgement of the twin policy shocks that defined the early months of the Tinubu administration: the abrupt removal of the petrol subsidy, announced on inauguration day, and the liberalisation of the foreign exchange market, which led to a sharp depreciation of the naira. Both measures inflicted considerable hardship on households and businesses in the short term, triggering widespread criticism and fuelling a cost of living crisis that deepened food insecurity for millions of Nigerians.
According to Idris, however, the administration’s position is that those reforms were unavoidable and are now beginning to show results. He pointed to improvements in government revenue, renewed investor confidence, and stronger engagement with international partners as early indicators that the reform path is yielding positive outcomes.
Whether those macro-level gains have translated into tangible relief for ordinary Nigerians, particularly on food prices, remains a subject of ongoing public debate. Nigeria’s annual food inflation rate, though showing some moderation in recent Central Bank of Nigeria data, has remained elevated, continuing to exert pressure on household food budgets, especially among low-income urban populations and rural farming communities.
Beyond direct agricultural policy, Idris elaborated on what the government considers the enabling conditions for a productive and resilient food system. He highlighted the administration’s efforts to improve security across farming communities and transportation corridors, noting that sustained insecurity had in preceding years forced farmers off their land in parts of the North-West, North-Central and North-East, contributing to significant losses in food output.
Nigeria’s farming communities have borne a disproportionate share of the country’s security crisis. Banditry in the North-West, farmer-herder conflicts across the Middle Belt, and insurgency in the North-East have combined over more than a decade to disrupt agricultural production, displace farming populations and sever supply chains. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has in various assessments flagged the impact of these security challenges on Nigeria’s food availability and access, particularly for rural households.
Idris stated that improved security conditions are helping farmers return to their fields, with encouraging signs of increased agricultural activity in previously affected areas.
He also drew attention to ongoing infrastructure investments, including roads, rail, power and digital connectivity, describing these as essential supports for agricultural productivity and market access.
“The administration is investing heavily in infrastructure development, including roads, rail, power and digital connectivity, to support economic expansion and improve market access for agricultural produce across the country,” he noted.
The infrastructure argument is well-grounded in the structural realities of Nigeria’s agricultural economy. A significant proportion of food produced in Nigeria is lost post-harvest due to poor road conditions, inadequate cold storage facilities, and weak linkages between farming areas and urban markets. The World Bank and other development institutions have estimated that post-harvest losses in Nigeria account for substantial proportions of total agricultural output annually, representing both an economic waste and a drag on food availability.
On human capital development, Idris cited the student loan programme, improvements in primary healthcare, and targeted social investment initiatives as part of the broader package of reforms intended to build a more capable and less vulnerable population over time.
In a pointed articulation of the Ministry of Information’s role within the reform agenda, Idris drew a distinction between government communication and propaganda, arguing that the former is a form of democratic accountability.
“Communication is not propaganda; it is accountability. It ensures that citizens understand government initiatives and have the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback,” he stated.
He reaffirmed that the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation would continue to work to bridge the gap between government policies and public understanding, ensuring that Nigerians remain informed about the objectives and progress of the administration’s reform programme. He urged development partners, civil society organisations, and the media to sustain their support for government efforts to transform Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
Idris also commended the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, for organising the quarterly engagement forum, describing it as a meaningful platform for dialogue between policymakers and citizens on food security issues.
Senator Abubakar Kyari, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, who spoke after Idris, stated that the Federal Government is intensifying its efforts to transform Nigeria’s agricultural and food systems through targeted programmes, strategic partnerships and sustained investments across key agricultural value chains.
“Since assuming office, this administration has made food security a top priority, acknowledging the critical role it plays in maintaining national stability and sovereignty,” Kyari said.
He described a range of ongoing interventions, including fertiliser distribution, agricultural mechanisation, the supply of improved seed varieties, expansion of irrigation infrastructure, and various farmer support programmes, all of which he said are contributing to increased agricultural output and strengthening the country’s food security framework.
Kyari stressed that the Ministry is committed to maintaining close collaboration with farmers, development partners, the private sector, and other stakeholders in its work to strengthen agricultural productivity, improve value chains, and ensure that food remains available, accessible, and affordable for Nigerians across all income levels.
Nigeria’s agricultural sector accounts for roughly a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product and employs a significant proportion of its working population, with the National Bureau of Statistics recording agriculture as one of the key drivers of GDP in recent quarterly reports. Yet the sector has long underperformed its potential, constrained by limited access to financing for smallholder farmers, weak mechanisation, inadequate irrigation, poor storage infrastructure, and, increasingly, climate-related disruptions.
Food inflation, which surged to multi-decade highs in 2023 and into 2024, has remained one of the most politically sensitive economic indicators in Nigeria. The removal of the petrol subsidy, by raising transportation costs, contributed directly to higher food prices, creating a paradox in which a reform intended in part to free up fiscal resources for productive investment simultaneously worsened the very food access problems the government is now mobilising to address.
The Federal Government’s food security interventions, including those referenced by both ministers at Friday’s forum, are being closely monitored by international development partners. The World Bank, which is supporting several agricultural projects in Nigeria, has emphasised the need for systemic reforms to improve smallholder productivity, reduce post-harvest losses, and enhance market access. The African Development Bank, through its Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation initiative, is also engaged with Nigeria on seed systems, fertiliser access and irrigation development.
Those present at the forum included Kyari, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security; Senator Dr Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security; Dr Marcus Olaniyi Ogunbiyi, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security; and other senior dignitaries.
