President Tinubu suspend import tax on food.

Products like potatoes, yams, and plantains that were formerly thought to be mundane are now highly valued, and Nigerians have every reason to wonder how and why things are the way they are.

The minister conceded that with growing worries about the genetic makeup of food, some law-abiding citizens could be concerned about the quality of the food that would be imported.

“I’m happy to restate that the government’s stance exemplifies standards that would not jeopardize the various food items’ safety for ingestion.”

The minister states that the country’s small-scale millers and processors will receive these imported food goods in their partially processed form

The National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) which as of the most recent count had placed food inflation at 40.66%, has been used to index the affordability crisis in our food security system.

“We have heard the protests from Nigeria on the cost of food and condiments; some are now calling tomatoes “gold” and offering a range of recipes to make soups and other dishes using some of the astronomically priced food items.

The minister said multiple taxes and levies, infrastructural challenges and “sheer profiteering by marketers and traders” have contributed to rising food prices.

“Over the past several months, we have all been witnesses to the escalating cost of food items in all parts of the country. There is virtually no food item that has not had its price raised to a level higher than what a good many Nigerians can afford,” Kyari said. 

“The affordability crisis in our food security system has been indexed by the data from the National Bureau of Statistics which by the last count, had put food inflation at 40.66%.

“We have heard the cries of Nigeria over the prices of food items and condiments, with some now describing tomato as gold and proposing a variety of recipes to prepare soups and dishes with some of the overly priced food items.