Hunger: Shettima urges private sector to upscale investment in Nigeria’s food system

As hunger persists due to Nigeria’s lingering economic hardship, Vice President Kashim Shettima urged the private sector to upscale investments in the country’s food system on Friday.

Shettima, the Chairman of the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit (PFSC), made the call in a special address titled ‘Food Systems Transformation’ at the ‘Strategic Workshop on Agriculture and Food Security’ organized by PFSCU, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).

Represented by his Special Adviser, General Duties, Dr Aliyu Modibbo, he said the private sector needs to join forces with the Tinubu administration to change the narrative in the nation’s food system.

He maintained that based on the efforts of the Tinubu-led administration, the food system in Nigeria is currently experiencing a paradigm shift based on the state of emergency declared on food production, including the $4.3 billion Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed in Brazil by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security on the sidelines of the G20 in November 2024 to drive additional support in fertilizer production, hybrid seed production, and agricultural credit lines.

The workshop had top players in the agricultural sector and other stakeholders in attendance.

He said: “The private sector is and will remain the engine of economic growth in Nigeria’s systems. Your leadership in agribusiness is essential to transforming our food systems from subsistence to full-scale commercial agriculture.

“Agriculture is our golden egg. The opportunities within production

investment. Nigeria’s over 200 million consumers represent an untapped potential; our domestic market alone presents huge opportunities for return on the market that can drive substantial agribusiness profitability.

“We recognize that a market-driven approach is the only sustainable

pathway to achieving long-term food security. This is why our policies and programs are designed to support competitive, private-sector-led agricultural growth, ensuring farmers and agribusinesses can operate in an enabling environment that fosters innovation and growth.

“Let me assure you that the government remains fully committed to addressing the food crisis head-on, ensuring that no Nigerian goes hungry, and leveraging the power of the private sector to build a resilient, market-driven food economy.

“To this end, we encourage investment in climate-smart agriculture, regenerative farming practices, and digital solutions that enhance resilience. The government is committed to working with you to deploy modern technologies that can optimise yields, reduce waste, and enhance productivity across the value chain.”

Meanwhile, he expressed optimism that the private sector, based on collaboration, can unlock the full potential of the nation’s agricultural sector and ensure the food systems become inclusive and sustainable.

“Let us seize this opportunity to build a prosperous, food-secure Nigeria, where agriculture is a cornerstone of our national development and a driver of economic prosperity,” he added.

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen Abubakar Kyari, said the private sector could best drive food production.

Kyari, who was represented by the Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Development Fund, Ibrahim, said, “The Hourable Minister recognizes that agriculture in Nigeria cannot thrive without the full participation of the private sector.

“The Ministry remains committed to ensuring that policies, incentives, and financing mechanisms enable private investments to flourish.

“Through NADF, we are not just facilitating access to finance but also working to catalyze innovation, unlock new investment opportunities, and develop new agricultural ventures and ecosystems that are capable of accelerating the attainment of food security.

“Since its inception, NADF has focused on addressing the long-standing financing challenges in Nigeria’s agricultural sector. Our mandate is clear: to bridge funding gaps, design financial products that work for the sector, and create mechanisms that attract both public and private capital for the development of the sector and its (broken) value chains.”

The Executive Secretary of PFSCU, Marion Moon, in a presentation on PFSCU’s 2025 Prioritized Initiatives, pointed out that Nigeria needs 3.6 million metric tonnes of food for its population. How can we get this out to feed Nigerians? She said, “There are a couple of studies we have looked at. I think the latest one was done by AGRA, which showed we need reserves of almost 3.6 million metric tonnes for our population size.

“So it is quite a lot, and I tell people, if that is what we need, farmers, that is also a market for you to grow for. We need this.

“We are saying, looking at this year, 200,000, could we make sure we go from zero to 200,000 metric tonnes within our strategic grain reserves? Is that realistic? Is that possible? We need to make a decision on that and aim for that specific target. We have talked about early warning systems.

The data shows that we should have declared that state of emergency earlier. So, where do these systems sit within the government?

“I know WFP, as this development partner, issues a report, which is excellent, and we are thankful for that collaboration, but it is important that this is institutionalized within government.

“We should also have this information for ourselves. So, we are looking at institutionalizing a system within the Office of the National Security Advisor that can then gather this information.

“We need to increase our yields. Whether in crops, fisheries, or livestock, we need better output. You can do it by increasing maybe your land or your number of heads of cattle, but you can also increase it if you have the right genetics, seeds, and fingerlings. So, we want to look at focusing on genetics. Can we focus on making sure that we have the right seeds? And farmers can access higher yielding seeds, and not just have them.”

On the sidelines of the workshop, the Executive Director, Uchenna Ogbonna, Ernest Shonekan Centre, NESG, said, “We need the private sector’s participation, and that is the only way we can achieve it because the government cannot produce all the food we need.

“The government cannot run the agricultural companies; it has to be the private sector inclusive, and that is the only way we can achieve food security in Nigeria. With all we have, we have all the resources to produce enough food and feed the rest of Western Europe.

“But right now, we don’t even have enough to feed ourselves because of our challenges in the agricultural sector.

“That is why we need the private sector and the government to achieve this goal.”