The Federal Government has announced a 150-day duty-free import window for certain food commodities, suspending duties, tariffs, and taxes on imports through land and sea borders.
In a statement on Monday, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, revealed that duties, tariffs, and taxes on imported maize, husked brown rice, wheat, and cowpeas have been suspended. This 150-day duty-free period is part of measures to be implemented over the next 180 days to alleviate food inflation in Nigeria.
These measures are part of the accelerated stabilization and advancement plan recently presented to President Bola Tinubu by the economic management team under the Presidential Economic Coordination Council, constituted by the president in March.
Kyari attributed the rising food prices to multiple taxes and levies, infrastructural challenges, and “sheer profiteering by marketers and traders.”
“Over the past several months, we have all witnessed the escalating cost of food items across the country. There is virtually no food item that has not seen its price rise beyond what many Nigerians can afford,” Kyari stated.
“The affordability crisis in our food security system is reflected in data from the National Bureau of Statistics, which recently recorded food inflation at 40.66%. We have heard Nigerians’ complaints about food prices, with some now describing tomatoes as gold and proposing various recipes to cope with the high costs of food items.
“Items that were once common, such as yam, plantain, and potatoes, now command excessively high prices, leaving Nigerians to wonder why things have become so expensive.”
Kyari also mentioned that imported food commodities will be subject to a recommended retail price (RRP) to ensure affordability.
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