In response to the soaring cost of food items in Nigeria, with the inflation rate now at 33.69 percent, the Presidency has inaugurated the Presidential Food Systems Coordination Unit (PFSCU). This unit is tasked with addressing the food security crisis and the rising cost of food in the country.
Chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, the PFSCU includes state governors, local government representatives, development partners, and other key stakeholders. The unit will coordinate all agricultural activities across Nigeria.
At the inauguration, held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Friday at the behest of President Bola Tinubu, Shettima highlighted the urgency of the food security crisis. “The nation is facing a rare food security crisis and the sooner we come to terms with the reality, the better,” Shettima’s spokesman Stanley Nkwocha quoted him as saying. “Food insecurity endangers the very basis of our democratic experiment, and this is why all hands have to be on deck. We are in a food security crisis, but it also provides us the opportunity to re-engineer and reposition the nation on a firmer footing.”
Several state governors present at the meeting praised the initiative as timely and necessary to address the current situation in the country.
In light of the escalating food prices, stakeholders have pointed to multiple issues, including insecurity, with armed groups controlling parts of the country’s food-producing regions. In a bid to tackle this, President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency on food security about a year ago.
“There must be an urgent synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure adequate irrigation of farmlands and to guarantee that food is produced all year round,” the President stated. Tinubu also pledged to engage the nation’s security apparatus to protect farms and farmers, ensuring that they can work without fear of attacks.