President Muhammadu Buhari has again blamed middlemen for
the hike in the prices of food items.
Buhari said middlemen are responsible for food shortages on
Friday during his nationwide address to mark Nigeria’s 61st independence
anniversary.
The president said middlemen have created “artificial
shortages” through the hoarding of essential commodities for profiteering.
Buhari said the agricultural sector remains the key to the
country’s economic diversification, adding that agriculture is a consistent
driver of the non-oil sector.
“The agricultural sector remains key to our economic
diversification efforts as the sector has been a consistent driver of the
non-oil sector contributing 22.35% and 23.78% to the overall GDP in the first
and second quarter of 2021,” the president said.
“We have seen significant private sector investments in
almost all areas of the agricultural value chain. And these have continued even
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Unfortunately, as our food production capacity has
increased, food prices have been going up due to artificial shortages created
by middlemen who have been buying and hoarding these essential commodities for
profiteering.
“To address this, I
am hereby directing the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to
rehabilitate the National Food Reserve Agency and also work with security
agencies, the Nigerian commodity exchange, and the national assembly to find a
lasting solution to these disruptive and unpatriotic hoarding activities.”
In July 2021, the president blamed middlemen for the hike in
food prices and he has maintained this stance on other occasions.
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