The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, has urged President Bola Tinubu to open the borders and allow food items to come into the country in a bid to solve the food crisis ravaging the country.
In a statement issued in Osogbo on Tuesday, Oba Akanbi recommended importing building supplies and foodstuffs to foster competition in the market and control inflation, adding that in order to stop the supposed sabotage by local growers, border opening for at least the next six months was now required.
In a statement issued by his press secretary, Alli Ibraheem, Oluwo added, “The government needs to act immediately because the high cost of food is killing people.” With the exception of the Niger Republic, all borders should be opened in order to curb the rapidly rising cost of products. Except for genetically modified foodstuffs, President Ahmed Tinubu should allow the importation of all foods. In particular, the import ban on rice and other grains must be eased.
“I am smelling saboteur. Most local producers are frustrating the government’s economic efforts. Necessary steps to shame the saboteurs must be considered in a timely enforced. Most Nigerians have lots of money outside the country but are unwilling to bring it home. I am sure they will be willing to bring it in if these options are considered. At least for the next 6 months, borders should be declared open to checkmate the inflation and stabilize food prices.”
On February 8, 2023, Tinubu ordered the immediate release of more than 102,000 metric tons of various grain kinds from the National Food Reserve and the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria as a temporary reaction to the country’s worsening food crisis and the rising cost of commodities.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this to State House correspondents after the last leg of a series of three meetings of the Special Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention at the Aso Rock Villa on Thursday.“
Idris said, “The first is that 42,000 metric tons of maize, millet, garri, and other commodities that are in their strategic reserve ought to be released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security so that Nigerians can access them right away.
“The second is that we have had discussions with the Nigerian Rice Millers Association. We have requested that the people in charge of producing this rice open their businesses”, he said.
They claim to be able to guarantee roughly 60,000 metric tons of rice which will be made available and will have enough for the next one to two months, maybe even up to six weeks.
