Over the past decades, Nigeria has not consistently achieved food security, often facing food shortages despite some advances in certain areas and at certain times that improved food availability and self-reliance.
Before the oil boom, Nigeria was known as a leading agricultural producer and exporter of commodities such as cocoa, palm oil, and palm kernels. However, the advent of oil production and exports led to reduced investment and output in agriculture, resulting in greater dependence on food imports and a decline in overall food security. This, over time, became a crisis, placing individuals and households at risk by limiting their access to sufficient and nutritious food required for a healthy life.
According to 2025 projections, an estimated 30.6 to 33 million Nigerians are expected to confront severe food and nutrition challenges during the June–August lean season. While Nigeria is not currently at risk of famine or drought due to climatic factors, its food system remains vulnerable to external and internal shocks, including challenges of economic instability, conflicts, and global events such as the recent pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Food insecurity is characterised by situations where people have limited or unreliable access to enough food, based on its physical unavailability and the lack of the means to acquire it. Notably, food security problems in Nigeria are particularly acute for staple crops such as maize and wheat, which are key components of the diet for millions of Nigerians. These crops are highly vulnerable to the country’s ongoing concerns, including insecurity, climate hazards such as droughts and floods, high food prices, and reduced agricultural productivity.
Economic factors such as high food prices, unstable inflation indices, as well as the removal of fuel subsidies, have been linked to food insecurity challenges in Nigeria, making it difficult for many Nigerians to afford adequate and nutritious food. Another primary driver of food insecurity in Nigeria includes persistent violence, insurgency, banditry, and communal clashes in parts of the country, where farming, food production, and distribution are disrupted, leaving millions vulnerable to hunger.
Tackling these challenges poses an enormous challenge. The President Tinubu Bola administration, in the last two years, has taken it as a peremptory challenge and is taking multiple strategic actions to achieve food security, focusing on both short-term relief and long-term sustainability.
To address immediate food shortages and reduce rising food prices, President Tinubu’s administration temporarily removed tariffs on imported grains and essential food items. This measure was aimed at improving affordability for consumers while stabilising food accessibility.
President Tinubu also announced a national emergency regarding food security, highlighting the importance of enhancing irrigation infrastructure and improving water resource management to promote sustainable agriculture. This strategy involves utilising Nigeria’s extensive irrigable lands near major river basins to enable year-round farming.
Towards revitalising agricultural financing, the Nigerian government is repositioning the Bank of Agriculture to provide accessible funding for large, medium, and small-scale farmers, facilitating increased agricultural productivity and mechanisation.
Other key elements of President Tinubu’s administration’s comprehensive intervention plan to achieve food security for citizens include the introduction of a wide-ranging strategy focused on lowering food inflation, improving affordability, and promoting sustainability. The plan involves channelling savings from the removal of fuel subsidies into agricultural support.
Among other measures that the Tinubu administration has taken to ensure food security in the country are the establishment of a National Commodity Board to oversee food prices and plans to increase employment opportunities in agriculture, with a long-term goal of raising agricultural employment to around 70%.
There are efforts to also improve transportation and storage infrastructure, which will help reduce post-harvest losses and lower overall costs.
Critical to the administration’s measures to ensure food security is the political will shown in enhancing security for farmers by intensifying the fight against banditry, insurgency and kidnappings. This is targeted at resuscitating farming activities in areas affected by these challenges.
President Bola Tinubu’s approval of the setting up of Forest Guards has also been seen as a transformative measure for Nigeria’s food supply, increasing food sufficiency for the country and drawing higher investment into the food sector. This will motivate farmers to return to abandoned lands, which will increase agricultural production and lower food prices.
It is believed that, if the government maintains coordinated strategies to address insecurity, economic instability, and the effects of climate change, while also remaining committed to ongoing interventions and long-term agricultural transformation, the negative impacts of food insecurity are expected to lessen for millions of Nigerians.