AfDB President Adesina explains why massive imports won’t solve Nigeria’s food insecurity issues. Learn about his sustainable solutions. 

The president of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, criticized the Nigerian government’s decision to permit a significant importation of staple food items in order to lower prices.

Adesina conveyed this message during a retreat in Abuja, Nigeria, to the African Primates of the Anglican Church.

Despite the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security’s announcement of a 150-day Duty-Free Import Window for food commodities, Adesina emphasized that the importation strategy could harm Nigeria’s agriculture sector.

Adesina suggested that Nigeria should prioritize increasing domestic food production to stabilize prices, generate employment opportunities, reduce foreign exchange expenditures, and maintain the Naira’s stability against the dollar.

He emphasized that Nigeria’s reliance on food imports to address food insecurity is not a sustainable solution and could lead to the country becoming overly dependent on imported food.

This critique from Adesina comes at a time when Nigeria is experiencing a rise in headline and food inflation rates, reaching 33.69 percent and 40.66 percent, respectively.