APC governor blames past Nigerian leaders for high cost of food

A Nigerian governor from the northwest region has blamed the high cost of food in the country on past leaders.

Governor Mohammed Abubakar says food is expensive in the country because of lack of policy direction.

The present administration including Governor Abubakar has been in office for 5 years and three months.

Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Jigawa state has blamed the high cost of food in the country on past leaders describing them as chronic importers.

He said this at the virtual inauguration of 12 projects across six geopolitical zones of the country by Dr Ali Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, on Thursday, August 21 in Abuja.

According to him, food was expensive in Nigeria because there were no policy direction or any form of substitution to importation.

His words: “How can food not be expensive when we inherited a system that has been built on $100 to $120 per barrel of crude and there is no import substitution.

“No clear policy direction has been actualised to reduce importation; we keep making money from oil and spending it on imports.”

Legit.ng had earlier reported that the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently released the Consumer Price Index (CPI)/Inflation report for the month of July 2020, with the country's headline inflation rising to 12.82 per cent from 12.56 per cent in June.

According to the report, food inflation also rose to 15.48 percent in July from 15.18 percent in the previous month. The report also indicates that core inflation rose to 10.10 percent from 10.13 percent in June.

Meanwhile, the federal government has announced plans to carry out COVID-19 tests for five million Nigerian farmers across the country.

This was disclosed by the minister of agriculture and rural development, Sabo Nanono, on Tuesday, July 21.

Nanono made the comment while delivering a keynote speech during a virtual meeting with major players in the sector.

“I am happy to announce that plans are in place to test five million Nigerian farmers as part of Mr President’s mandate for famine inhibiting food production,” he said.