The Nigerian government, led by President Bola Tinubu, has spent a total of ₦9.74 billion on the procurement and distribution of food items as part of its efforts to mitigate the nationwide food crisis in 2024.
According to a report by BudgIT, a civic-tech organization advocating for transparency and accountability, the funds were used to supply essential food staples such as rice, beans, maize, and other commodities to vulnerable communities across the country.
The report revealed that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security led the initiatives, making multiple payments to contractors responsible for the emergency supply of palliative foodstuffs to various federal constituencies.
Key transactions included payments for the delivery of rice, beans, and garri to help alleviate hunger in vulnerable communities. On average, ₦85.45 million was spent per constituency, with payments made between February and November 2024 across different regions.
The report identified several states that benefited from the food palliative program, including Kano, Ogun, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Adamawa, Kaduna, Jigawa, Ekiti, Oyo, Lagos, Bauchi, Rivers, Borno, Sokoto, and Enugu.
However, experts have raised concerns about the effectiveness of the program in addressing the root causes of food insecurity in Nigeria. Shedrach Israel, an economist at Lotus Beta Analytics, argued that food palliatives alone cannot solve the country’s food crisis.
“While food palliatives are essential for addressing immediate hunger, they fail to address the underlying systemic issues, such as inflation and deficiencies in the agricultural sector,” Israel said.
La’ah Dauda, an agricultural economist based in Kaduna, emphasized the need for a more comprehensive approach to addressing the food crisis. “The government’s reliance on palliatives is a short-term fix, which does not tackle critical issues like inadequate irrigation, poor storage facilities, and limited market access,” Dauda said.
