The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has decried that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s committee on food security has not yet alleviated the rising food prices in Nigeria.
The CPPE Director, Muda Yusuf, highlighted this in his response to Nigeria’s latest inflation statistics for May 2024, which showed headline inflation at 33.95 percent and food inflation at 40.66 percent.
“The CPPE expressed concern over the declining purchasing power of Nigerians amid persistent inflationary pressures.”
According to the CPPE, several factors contribute to Nigeria’s inflation, including a depreciating exchange rate, increasing transportation costs, logistics and supply chain issues, forex market volatility, high energy costs, climate change impacts, insecurity in farming communities, seasonal agricultural output variations, and structural production bottlenecks.
“Unfortunately, the factors driving inflation are not diminishing. The seasonality of agricultural outputs often causes temporary price increases for some food crops. Insecurity in farming communities significantly disrupts agricultural production and exacerbates the food supply crisis.
“The food security situation is alarming and requires an urgent response. The impact of the Presidential Committee on Food Security has yet to be realized. We believe that if implemented, the proposals in the government’s Inflation Reduction and Price Stability Plan will significantly moderate inflationary pressures. We urge the government to implement this plan urgently.
“The government could also review tariff policies by offering concessionary import duties on intermediate products for industrialists and investors in the logistics sector. Some of these measures are included in the draft Accelerated Economic and Sustainability Plan proposed by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy,” Yusuf stated.
