The Vice President of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima, spoke on Tuesday at a two-day, high-level strategic meeting on climate change, food systems and resource mobilization in Abuja. During the event, he revealed that the Federal Government is planning to establish a National Commodity Board as a solution to the increasing food inflation in the country. The board will be given the mandate to assess and regulate food prices, as well as maintain a strategic food reserve for stabilizing prices of crucial grains and other food items.
Shettima stressed that this is Nigeria’s effort to mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure food security for Nigerians. The Vice President noted that food security was one of the eight areas of priority declared by President Bola Tinubu as part of his Renewed Hope Agenda. This led to the declaration of a state of emergency on food security.
He highlighted ongoing policy reforms by the administration to ensure food and water availability, as well as affordability, through immediate, medium, and long-term strategies. The short-term strategy involves revitalizing food supply through specific interventions like the distribution of fertilizers and grains to farmers and households to cushion the effects of subsidy removal. It also involves fostering collaboration between the Ministries of Agriculture and Water Resources for efficient farmland irrigation, ensuring year-round food production, and addressing price volatility by establishing a National Commodity Board.
Shettima assured that the Tinubu administration is fully investing in the restoration of degraded land. According to him, there are ongoing plans to restore four million hectares, or nearly 10 million acres of degraded lands within the nation’s borders as its contribution to the AFR100 Initiative.
He said the administration is collaborating with mechanization companies to clear more forests and make them available for farming. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will also continue to play a major role in funding the agricultural value chain. The concessionary funds will ensure that food is always available and affordable, thereby having a direct impact on Nigeria’s Human Capital Index (HCI). This administration is focused on ensuring the HCI numbers, which currently rank as the 3rd lowest in the world, are improved for increased productivity.