In a deft move to address escalating costs of some staple food items, the Federal Government on July 10, 2024 announced that it would suspend duties, tariffs, and taxes on the importation of maize, husked brown rice, wheat, and cowpeas through the country’s land and sea borders, for 180 days.
The announcement was made by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, who also added that the policy is “to ameliorate food inflation in the country caused by affordability and exacerbated by availability.
Further details were given to mean that within the window of 180 days, there would be suspension of duties, tariffs, and taxes for the importation of certain food commodities (through land and sea borders). Under the arrangement, imported food commodities will be subjected to a Recommended Retail Price.
As a further boost to curtail the inflation which had risen to almost 40 percent, the Federal Government also unfolded plans to import 250,000MT of wheat and 250,000MT of maize. The imported food commodities in their semi-processed state were to target supplies to the small-scale processors and millers across the country.
The import duty waiver, introduced late last year as a strategic emergency response to soaring food inflation—which reached a staggering 40.53% in April 2024, was intended to increase the supply of staple grains like rice, maize, and sorghum, and reduce market prices. This move also aimed to cushion the impact of insecurity, flooding, and foreign exchange scarcity on food availability.
Sadly, notwithstanding the well-thought-out policy, prices of the food items skyrocketed to an all-time high in December 2024. At point a 50kg of rice was going for more than N120,000! This development made a mess of the policy.
At the beginning, the import duty waiver seems to have had minimal impact, as prices of food remained high, supply chains were disrupted, and the country’s dependency on food imports showed no signs of abating.
However, in the document from the Nigeria Customs Service revealed that the government, through the customs service, waived over N97bn for food staple imports, between July last year and first quarter of 2025. The service boasted that this has led to food price reduction in Nigeria.
Yes, this is true, because prices of such food items have started dropping. For example a bag of rice which sold for as high as about N120,000 in December 2024, has come down by about 50 percent, and it still falling. The same applies to other food items. A 50kg of rice now sells for about N60,000.
We are aware that President Bola Tinubu has been under pressure to stop the waiver. The pressure expectedly is coming from entrenched interests; from those whose businesses were affected by the people-friendly policy which the waiver represents.
Understandably, profit-driven private sector operators that have been affected by the policy on these staple food items have claimed that opening up the country to food import had undermined their investments. What they failed to admit is that, government only granted waiver for importation of semi-processed food items, and not full importation of completely processed rice, wheat and others. That was why only organization that have processing facilities were allowed to enjoy the waiver.
While the food importation policy may be seen by some interests as a double-edged sword that may bring down the prices of imported commodities, but would adversely impact local production, we see it a as policy which addresses the larger interests of the people of Nigeria, who have had to cope with soaring prices of the most common food items.
It is on record that the Organised Private Sector (OPS) has argued that importation of these food items will kill local companies and jobs.
This position is entirely selfish, and survivalist-induced, it gives no thought to millions of Nigerians who are hungry and who could not afford the ever-soaring cost of these items.
For instance, one of the players within the OPS circle, and the National Vice President of the Nigerian Association of Small-Scale Industrialists, Mr Segun Kuti-George, said the food import waiver was like a double-edged sword.
In the myopic postulation, he noted that although the food import waiver would bring down the cost of food items and alleviate hunger among the people, it would also affect local producers or manufacturers of food items, in that their sales may drop especially if they are unable to match the prices of imported goods.
We must not forget that, the intention of the policy is to reduce food prices and combat hoarding. Yes, the intention was achieved and the effect is the sharp downturn in local rice market activity.
This should not be taken as an attack on local production, but a challenge on the actors to up their game and embrace fair competition.
Ultimately, what the government wants is for the cost of staple food items to be affordable and competitive, such that the manufacturers will not go bankrupt and the populace will not be hungry owing to escalating prices.
We commend the nationalism that the Nigeria Customs Service has demonstrated in the execution of this policy.
The waiver granted by the Federal Government for the importation of essential food items, including maize, rice, and sorghum, among others, was N97bn between 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, data sourced from the Nigeria Customs Service showed.
In the document that was made public, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, explained that in line with the Federal Government’s efforts to address food security challenges, the service implemented exemptions on imports of essential food items like maize, rice, and sorghum.
In a recent statement, the service’s Comptroller General disclosed how much in terms of revenue loss, the policy meant to the Nigerian Customs Service. But, he also acknowledged the need to prioritise accessibility to basic food items.
We are aware that insecurity in plaguing states where rice, millets and other foods are cultivated, hence the fall in local production for the millers.
As a long-term measure, the Federal Government needs to ensure that Nigerian farmers are no longer seasonal farmers, relying on rain and good soil for planting. The way to go is mechanized and non-seasonal farming to ensure that the production chain is not starved of paddies to mill.
While the policy has helped ease food inflation, there is need for balanced measures to protect local producers and sustain the industry.
Given the positive effects of the policy, we strongly recommend a further extension of the waiver period by at least six months or more.
We are conscious of the position of the LCCI, through its Director-General Dr. Chinyere Almona, that the policy requires a review due to unintended consequences and possible threat to Nigeria’s fragile agro-processing industry.
The LCCI says: “While the government’s intentions are commendable, the resulting pressure from cheaper imports has led rice millers to operate at just 40 to 50 percent of their capacity due to increased competition and poor local paddy supply. If this trend continues unchecked, we estimate that over 10,000 jobs could be lost, affecting thousands of Nigerian families and undermining years of investment in local value chains.”
While not speaking for the government, our response to the above is that LCCI and the OPS in general, should tell their members to embrace competition and fairness. Government can not watch its citizen fie of hunger just to please a few operators in the market.
If waiver and massive importation of such food items is the answer, so be it.
