Business
Food Importation Gulps N2trn Annually-Minister
The Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina, says Nigerian spends N2 trillion annually on food importation.
Adesina, who disclosed this recently in Abuja at an interactive session with members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, said the country had become a dumping ground for imported food.
“It is a shameful thing that Nigeria has become a net importer of food. Nigeria has become a dumping ground for cheap food and it is killing our people and the economy.
“N1 billion is spent every day to import rice. We also spend N240 billion to import sugar, and N1.2 trillion annually on fish. With this, we are creating market for others.”
The minister noted that only three per cent of the nation’s budget was spent on agriculture and suggested that the allocation should be increased to 10 per cent in the 2012 budget to boost food production.
He said that if the agricultural sector was properly funded, it would not only reduce the country’s dependence on food importation, but would also create employment for the people.
Adesina said that about 3.5 million jobs could be created and an estimated N300 billion generated from the agricultural sector in the next four years, if the right investment were made in the sector.
“About 2 million jobs can be created from cassava alone, 400,000 jobs from cocoa, 125,000 jobs from cotton and one million jobs from rice.”
Responding, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on agriculture, Sen. Emmanuel Bwacha, decried the prolonged neglect of the agricultural sector.
He gave assurance that his committee would ensure that an appropriate budgetary allocation was made to the sector in the 2012 budget.
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Blue Economy: Minister Seeks Lifeline In Blue Bond Amid Budget Squeeze

Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy is seeking new funding to implement its ambitious 10-year policy, with officials acknowledging that public funding is insufficient for the scale of transformation envisioned.
Adegboyega Oyetola, said finance is the “lever that will attract long-term and progressive capital critical” and determine whether the ministry’s goals take off.
“Resources we currently receive from the national budget are grossly inadequate compared to the enormous responsibility before the ministry and sector,” he warned.
He described public funding not as charity but as “seed capital” that would unlock private investment adding that without it, Nigeria risks falling behind its neighbours while billions of naira continue to leak abroad through freight payments on foreign vessels.
He said “We have N24.6 trillion in pension assets, with 5 percent set aside for sustainability, including blue and green bonds,” he told stakeholders. “Each time green bonds have been issued, they have been oversubscribed. The money is there. The question is, how do you then get this money?”
The NGX reckons that once incorporated into the national budget, the Debt Management Office could issue the bonds, attracting both domestic pension funds and international investors.
Yet even as officials push for creative financing, Oloruntola stressed that the first step remains legislative.
“Even the most innovative financial tools and private investments require a solid public funding base to thrive.
It would be noted that with government funding inadequate, the ministry and capital market operators see bonds as alternative financing.
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