Prof. Raphael Okigbo, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, has urged the administration of President Bola Tinubu to focus more on the agricultural sector to address the country’s food crisis.
Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday, Okigbo, a professor of Plant Pathology in the Faculty of Biological Sciences, emphasized the need for deliberate efforts to tackle the scarcity and high prices of food items.
He attributed the food security challenges in Nigeria to insecurity and the high cost of transportation. Okigbo advised the federal government to consider opening the country’s borders to the importation of healthy food items in the short term to increase availability and reduce prices.
“We are not producing enough. Our farmers, both men and women, can no longer enter the forest to farm because of insecurity. The government must address this problem,” he said. “Additionally, the cost of transporting produce from farms to markets has more than quadrupled, a harmful effect of the removal of the petrol subsidy.”
Okigbo explained that these factors contribute to the scarcity and high prices of food items. He urged the government to formulate and implement urgent policies to address the challenges facing the agricultural sector.
