The administration of President Bola Tinubu is currently under pressure to dump the food import waiver that it announced in July 2024.
Multiple sources at the Presidency said the pressure has been coming from the private sector who claimed that opening up the country to food import would undermine their investments and worsen the unemployment rate in Nigeria.
Some private sector operators confirmed this, describing the food import waiver policy as a double-edged sword that may bring down the prices of imported commodities but would adversely impact local production.
One of the sources at the presidency who spoke with The PUNCH in confidence due to lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, said, “A lot of media outfits have been publishing on the failure of the government to implement the waiver on food imports.
“The real reason why the government is slowing it down is the need to protect local companies. Many local companies and groups like MAN (Manufacturers Association of Nigeria), LCCI (Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and industries have put pressure on the FG not to import food as that is not a solution. The focus should be to increase local production.”
Another said members of the Organised Private Sector have insisted that “importation will kill local companies and jobs.”
On July 10, 2024, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, announced that the Federal Government 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 150 days.
Kyari had said, “To ameliorate food inflation in the country caused by affordability and exacerbated by availability, the government has taken a raft of measures to be implemented over the next 180 days.
“A 150-day duty-free import window for food commodities, suspension of duties, tariffs, and taxes for the importation of certain food commodities (through land and sea borders). These commodities include maize, husked brown rice, wheat, and cowpeas. Under this arrangement, imported food commodities will be subjected to a Recommended Retail Price.”
The minister had stated that in addition to the importation by the private sector, the “Federal Government will import 250,000MT of wheat and 250,000MT of maize. The imported food commodities in their semi-processed state will target supplies to the small-scale processors and millers across the country.”
Since that announcement, neither the government nor the Nigeria Customs Service has provided details on the implementation mechanism.
In the third quarter of 2024, Customs said the government might forgo N188.37bn in revenue over the next six months due to the duty waiver granted on the importation of staple foods.
Also, the Customs had also in August 2024 said in order to participate in the import waiver, a company must be incorporated in Nigeria and have been operational for at least five years.
However, the initiative never took off, worsening the hunger situation in the country.