Buhari Releases 30,000 tons of Maize to Tackle High Food Prices

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the disbursement of 30,000 tons of maize from the national reserves to tackle the high cost of poultry production amongst animal feed producers.

The Nigerian President made the disclosure on Thursday in a statement via his official Twitter handle.

He also expressed worry over the high prices of food items in the country, blaming some middlemen for this. He promised to work with the different producers of food in the country on ways to address the issue.

“We are very mindful of the challenge of high food prices, at a time when the economy is already in a slowdown caused by the global coronavirus situation, and are doing everything in our power to bring down the prices of food items across the country.

“Let me assure Nigerians that this situation of spiralling food prices will be a transient one,” Mr Buhari said in the statement.

“We are also engaging with food producers associations and groups to tackle the issue of exploitative behaviour by middlemen and other actors, which is one of the factors responsible for the high food prices being experienced,” he assured.

This is coming after the country, through its central bank, directed authorised forex traders not to sell Dollars to importers of maize, a policy that drove the price of maize higher at the market. It also caused an increase in the price of animal feeds made from maize.

It was earlier reported that the CBN, in July, mandated all authorised dealers to submit the list of Form M already registered for the importation of the grain.

The Form M is a mandatory statutory document to be completed by all importers intending to bring goods into Nigeria.

The move, according to the apex bank, was done to “increase local production, stimulate a rapid economic recovery, safeguard rural livelihoods and increase which were lost as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”