Business
‘Nigerians Imported N903bn Worth Food In Three Months’
The Central Bank of Nigeria released $689.88million (N903.95billion) at the official exchange rate of N1,309/$ as of March 31, 2024 to Nigerians for importing food items in the first quarter of 2024.
The amount of food imported into Nigeria increased by 16.37 per cent within the first six months of 2024, The Tide’s source gathered.
According to the monthly Consumer Price Index data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the average price index for imported food rose to 806.0 points in June 2024, up from 692.6 recorded in January 2024.
On a month-on-month basis, imported food inflation jumped to 36.38 per cent in June 2024, from 34.83 per cent recorded in the previous month, which represents a 1.55 per cent increase as the naira weakened following the unification of all segments of the forex exchange market by the CBN.
The unification process in June 2023, aimed at creating a more transparent and efficient foreign exchange market, resulted in a steep naira depreciation.
Further analysis by the source showed that imported inflation has increased consecutively for over four years, largely driven by both internal and external factors.
Data from the NBS on imported food inflation from January to June 2024 reveals a troubling and steady increase in costs. In January, Nigeria recorded an imported inflation rate of 26.29 per cent. This increased to 29.81 per cent in February, marking a notable jump of 3.52 per cent in the inflation rate from January.
The trend continued in March, with the imported food inflation rate climbing to 32.89 per cent, an increase of 3.08 per cent from February.
In April, the inflation rate further increased to 34.01 per cent, growing by 1.12 per cent from March, showing a slight deceleration in the rate of increase.
May recorded an imported food inflation rate of 34.83 per cent, indicating a continued upward trend. The increase in the inflation rate is 0.82 per cent from April.
By June, the imported food inflation rate had hit 36.38 per cent, marking an increase of 1.55 per cent from May.
While the overall trend is upward, the rate of increase in inflation shows signs of gradual deceleration from March to May before picking up again in June.
Recently, the Federal Government approved a 150-day duty-free window to allow the importation of maize, husked brown rice and wheat as part of efforts to tackle rising inflation which had impoverished many Nigerians.
Consequently, the government suspended duties, tariffs and taxes for the importation of certain food commodities through land and sea borders.
However, the President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, raised concerns over the federal government’s plan to import food, stating that the policy is depressing. According to him, Nigeria cannot rely on food imports to stabilize prices, and resorting to it could destroy the country’s agricultural policy.
Also, the National President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Kabir Ibrahim, said the duty-free importation of food items would lead to the erosion of gains made in local maize, rice and wheat production.
He called on governments to invest through the provision of subsidies on inputs such as machines, fertilizers and chemicals to have a sustainable food system in the country.
Nigeria’s inflation rate in June 2024 surged from 33.95 per cent in May 2024 to 34.19 per cent in June. The headline inflation rate in June 2024 was 11.40 percentage points higher compared to June 2023, rising from 22.79 per cent.
On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in June 2024 was 2.31 per cent, an increase of 0.17 per cent from May 2024’s rate of 2.14 per cent.
Similarly, the quarterly statistics of CBN have shown that the country exported large amounts of food from foreign countries despite being touted as the food basket of Africa.
An analysis showed that its citizens spent $689.88m on import bills between January and March 2024. This was an increase of $12m or 1.77 per cent from $677.61m recorded in the same period of the previous year.
The high food import bill is a concern for the government. The country has a large agricultural sector, and there have been efforts to boost local production to reduce the dependence on food imports. However, factors such as inadequate infrastructure, insecurity, and climate change have hindered progress in the sector.
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Bayelsa Urges Cooperatives To Apply Global Best Practices
… Make Investment in Social Capital
Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa
Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, has restated the need for cooperative societies in the country to follow global trends in their operations to contribute meaningfully to the growth and development of the national economy.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo, who spoke recently during a courtesy visit by the Former Legislators’ Wives Association (FLEWA) to his office in Government House, Yenagoa, described cooperative societies as strategic engines of growth and stabilization of any economy.
The Deputy Governor opined that, apart from pooling resources together and sharing same among their members, cooperatives could do a lot more to impact society by investing in both profitable and non-profit making ventures.
He encouraged cooperatives in Bayelsa to imbibe global best practices by partnering government and other well-meaning organizations to invest in education and other areas of social capital.
While expressing appreciation to the women for supporting the re-election of the Governor and himself, Senator Ewhrudjakpo urged the Association to key into the policies and programmes of the Governor Diri-administration, especially those on women and youth empowerment.
He also called on FLEWA to take their public enlightenment programmes against drug addiction, cultism and other antisocial vices to the primary schools, which according to him, have become breeding grounds for such societal ills.
”Cooperatives, as far as I am concerned, are the engines of growth and stability of the economy. Most of the big economies and companies you see started off as cooperatives.
“The biggest football clubs in Europe were cooperatives that have become very mega investments.
“So, while I will really want to encourage you with your cooperative, I want you to have more than one area of focus. Our cooperatives should do more than contributing money for members in turns.
“We will match forward with our agenda, and expect you to match behind the state. I encourage you to come up with programmes that will help fight against cultism and other vices in our primary schools.
“Don’t always focus your enlightenment programmes on the secondary and tertiary learning institutions alone because our primary schools have become the breeding ground for all the vices we have mentioned here”, he said.
Speaking earlier, the President of FLEWA, Mrs. Margaret Boye Debekeme, said the goal of the association was to foster unity and collective development, through the pooling of resources for financial self-reliance.
Mrs Debekeme, who lauded the development strides of the present administration in the state, solicited the support of government for their programmes lined up for the year, including enlightenment campaign against cultism in schools.
The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, John Enoh said this at the 8th annual induction and conference of the Chartered Institute of Project Managers of Nigeria (CIPMN).
He explained that abandoned projects continue to lock up public funds that could have been used for infrastructure development, industrial growth, job creation and essential social services.
Represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Chris Osa Isokpunwu, he said the impact goes beyond financial losses, as incomplete projects affect communities and limit access to important public services
He cited examples of that remain unopened, schools that cannot accommodate students, roads that fail to connect communities and electricity projects that have not delivered their intended benefits.
The Registrar-General and Chief Executive Officer of CIPMN, Henry Ifeanyi Mbadiwe, also identified poor project management as a major challenge affecting development in Nigeria.
He revealed that the institute had developed a project management curriculum for Nigerian universities, which has received approval from the National Universities Commission (NUC). The programme is expected to enable universities to offer project management as a bachelor’s degree.
Mbadiwe further referenced findings by the Presidential Projects Assessment Committee, which identified 11,886 ongoing federal capital projects in 2011, with an estimated financial commitment of ?7.78 trillion.
He noted that inadequate planning, supervision, accountability and implementation were among the factors contributing to the abandonment of projects across the country.
The minister called for stronger project management structures across ministries, departments and agencies to improve planning, monitoring and evaluation.
He added that the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment had introduced a 90-day implementation reporting cycle to strengthen transparency and monitor the progress of government programmes.
Ikenga said the company remained committed to Nigeria’s power sector and would continue investing in its operations despite the challenging business environment.
He spoke in Lagos at the third edition of the Shell Power Conference, themed “Powering Nigeria’s Progress: Turning Ambition and Action into Sustainable Impact”.
The Transcorp Power chief said the company would sustain electricity generation, invest in its facilities and deliver value to shareholders.
“Transcorp Power is a long-term player, not a short-term player. This year has been challenging, but what is important is getting power to schools, hospitals and businesses to power progress,” he said.
Ikenga said the company’s focus on operational efficiency and investment had strengthened its contribution to Nigeria’s electricity supply.
He disclosed that since acquiring the Ughelli Power Plant in Delta State in 2013, Transcorp Power had quadrupled its available generation capacity.
He also said the company became the first privatised power generation firm to receive a post-privatisation discharge certificate after fulfilling all its privatisation obligations.
The company’s unaudited results for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, showed a profit before tax of N83.1 billion, while its profit-before-tax margin rose to 31.2 per cent from 29.6 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
Its total assets rose to 11.7 per cent amounting to N629.5 billion, while shareholders’ funds grew 8.9 per cent to N199.8 billion. Cash and cash equivalents also rose to N10.3 billion, supported by improved collections.
On the company’s contribution to grid stability, Ikenga said Transcorp Power’s black-start capability enabled it to restart operations without relying on electricity from the national grid.
He explained that the capability allowed the company to support power restoration following grid disturbances, helping to restore electricity supply to homes, businesses and industries.
Ikenga noted that Nigeria had an installed electricity generation capacity of about 13,000 megawatts, with an estimated potential of 50 gigawatts, adding that realising the potential would require effective coordination across the entire value chain.
“Everything in the value chain has to work,” he said.
He called for stronger collaboration among federal and state governments, regulators and private-sector operators, alongside increased private investment, to build a sustainable electricity market.
This was contained in a statement issued on Thursday by his Senior Special Assistant on Communications and Press Secretary, Maryann Duke.
The statement said Oyedele pointed to “improved digital systems, including electronic invoicing, as a key driver behind a record of N33tn in government revenue collected between January and October 2026.”
The minister said the performance demonstrated the potential of technology to improve revenue administration, strengthen compliance and increase efficiency across government institutions.
Speaking on the theme, ‘Digital Sovereignty and Ethics: Guarding the Economy for the Next Generation,’ Oyedele warned that Nigeria risked losing substantial economic opportunities if it continued to depend heavily on foreign digital infrastructure.
Citing Nigerian Communications Commission figures, he disclosed that the country recorded more than 157 million active internet subscriptions as of May 2026.
He explained that these connections generated significant volumes of information through financial transactions, healthcare, education and taxation.
However, citing estimates from the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Oyedele said as much as 90 per cent of the country’s data was hosted abroad.
According to him, the situation has implications for foreign exchange expenditure, employment opportunities, technological skills and Nigeria’s control over information generated by its citizens.
He compared the country’s reliance on foreign digital infrastructure with its historical dependence on imported refined petroleum products, warning against a situation where Nigerian data would be processed abroad and the resulting services sold back to domestic users.
The minister consequently advocated greater investment in local data infrastructure, technical expertise, cybersecurity and predictable regulations to enable Nigerian businesses to capture more value from the digital economy.
He clarified that digital sovereignty should not translate into technological isolation but should strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to participate competitively in international markets.
Addressing graduating students, Oyedele urged young Nigerians to become developers of technological solutions rather than remain primarily consumers of products created elsewhere.
He identified artificial intelligence as both a disruptive force and an opportunity for innovation, advising graduates to acquire relevant digital skills alongside critical thinking, creativity, sound judgement and integrity.
The minister also cautioned against irresponsible online behaviour, explaining that digital footprints increasingly influence employment prospects, commercial relationships and professional credibility.
Oyedele outlined five priorities for graduates, including continuous learning, value creation, integrity, responsible digital citizenship and active participation in national development.
“Your degree is evidence of what you have learned. Your competence will demonstrate what you can do. Your character will reveal who you truly are,” he told the graduating students.
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