“Don’t Allow Hungry Citizens Go Angry”, Economists Reveal Urgent Solutions over 40% Food Inflation in Nigeria

“Don’t Allow Hungry Citizens Go Angry”, Economists Reveal Urgent Solutions over 40% Food Inflation in Nigeria

Professor Akpan Ekpo, an economist and public policy analyst, said households and their families are not expected to spend more than 10% of their income on food.

He warned that at the current level of 40.66%, food inflation is not just a threat to the economy but also to social stability as it continues to rise.

The scholar advised the government to intensify efforts to implement policies that will empower citizens, enabling them to demand goods and services. He said the empowerment should be done for a year to stimulate economic activities.

He said, “The government should not allow hungry citizens to become angry. In the short term, the government must allow massive food imports. The struggle to end terrorism and other vices must be intensified to enable farmers to return to their farms and enhance production. Existing policies to enhance the food situation exist, but implementation remains challenging.”

Nigeria’s food inflation figure for May 2024, as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), continued its upward Year-on-Year trend, rising to 40.66%.

This was a significant 15.84% point higher than the 24.82% rate recorded in May 2023. The recent month-on-month (M-o-M) food inflation rate in May was 2.28%, representing a slight decrease of 0.22% compared to April 2024 (2.50%).

The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending May 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 34.06%, marking a large 10.41% points increase from the average annual rate of change in May 2023 (23.65%).

This has profoundly impacted the country’s households, grappling with the triple challenges of naira devaluation, weak purchasing power, and relatively low wages.

Professor Uche Uwaleke, the Director of the Institute for Capital Market Studies at Nassarawa State University, Keffi, believes the fiscal authorities have a major role in addressing the country’s rising food inflation.

According to him, the major causative factors, such as insecurity in the food belt, transport and logistics bottlenecks, epileptic power supply, and high fuel costs, are outside the monetary policy remit.

He added, “Against this backdrop, the government should devise an effective strategy to combat banditry and kidnapping, hasten the repair of public refineries, and scale up the introduction of CNG buses to ease transportation costs.”