Nigeria at 66: We need to boost food production – LCCI

As Nigeria commemorates its 66th Independence Anniversary, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), has congratulated the government and people of Nigeria and reaffirms its commitment to a prosperous, productive, and private-sector-led economy, while stressing the importance of boosting food production in the country.

In a statement, made available to FarmingFarmersFarms, the President of LCCI, Engr. Leye Kupoluyi, observed that the independence anniversary provides an immense opportunity to reflect on the state of the nation’s economy and conditions confronting businesses, households, and investors, and recognises that the Federal Government’s economic reform programme had delivered encouraging signs of macroeconomic stabilisation.

“Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has strengthened, inflation has moderated significantly from the elevated levels of the previous two years, external reserves have improved, and the foreign exchange market has become more orderly. The recent reduction in the Monetary Policy Rate to 23% is also a welcome signal of the authorities’ growing confidence in the disinflation process. However, macroeconomic stabilisation must ultimately translate into improved welfare, stronger purchasing power, lower production costs, and more jobs. This remains the critical test of the economic recovery”, the LCCI President said.

Despite the decline in headline inflation, the group said it is concerned that the cost of essential goods and services remains beyond the reach of a significant proportion of households, noting that the problem is not only the rate at which prices are rising; it is also about the high level to which prices have already risen over the past several years. Consequently, the moderation in inflation does not necessarily mean that Nigerians are experiencing lower prices while many households, food, transportation, housing, healthcare, education, and energy continue to absorb an increasing proportion of disposable income.

Recent increases in petrol and diesel prices, driven partly by developments in the international oil market, have further heightened the risk of renewed cost pressures across the economy. For instance, diesel prices have risen above ₦2,000 per litre and petrol prices around ₦1,400 per litre in many parts of the country with significant implications for transportation, manufacturing, logistics, agriculture, and retail prices. The LCCI has urged policymakers to focus, not only on inflation reduction, but on restoring purchasing power and reducing the structural costs embedded in the prices of goods and services.

The chamber equally called on the government to move from isolated interventions to a comprehensive industrial competitiveness programme built around five priorities, namely: reliable and affordable energy to accelerate the implementation of the power-sector reforms and create dedicated industrial power solutions, while improving gas supply to industrial clusters; affordable long-term finance to expand development-finance instruments, credit guarantees, and blended-finance mechanisms targeted at manufacturing, agro-processing, and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Other priority areas are predictable trade and tariff policies to provide greater certainty on tariffs, import restrictions, and customs procedures, while ensuring that trade policies support domestic production without creating artificial shortages; local supply-chain development to promote the domestic production of industrial inputs, packaging materials, machinery, chemicals, agricultural inputs, and other intermediate goods required by manufacturers; industrial infrastructure to develop and rehabilitate industrial parks, economic clusters, roads, rail connections, ports, and logistics infrastructure to reduce the cost of moving goods, and reduce the country’s dependence on imported goods.

The LCCI appealed to the Federal Government to make the next phase of economic reform more firmly-centered on competitiveness and productivity, which requires a sustained programme of regulatory reform. It informed that Nigeria’s long-term prosperity would depend on the ability to shift from an economy, predominantly driven by consumption and government expenditure, to one increasingly driven by investment, production, exports, and private-sector job creation. This is because Nigeria has a large domestic market, a young population, significant agricultural resources, substantial energy potential, and an expanding entrepreneurial ecosystem.

What is only required is an environment that enables these assets to translate into productive investment, as the chamber called for a renewed national commitment to production, productivity, and competitiveness. “We need an economy where a Nigerian manufacturer can produce competitively, where a farmer can move produce efficiently to market, where an entrepreneur can obtain affordable credit, where an investor can rely on predictable regulations, where workers can earn incomes that support a decent standard of living, and where young Nigerians can find productive employment within the country”, the LCCI President added.

On the way forward, the LCCI recommended that there is the need to strengthen food production and distribution, noting that “the immediate priority should be to increase food supply and reduce post-harvest losses through investment in irrigation, storage, rural roads, agricultural inputs, security, and market infrastructure. We can boost food production by focusing more on poultry and fisheries, agro-processing to add value to primary commodities, and supporting food supply logistics from farms to markets.

“The government should also facilitate the movement of food from surplus-producing areas to deficit markets and remove unnecessary restrictions and bottlenecks along major food corridors. Rather than broad and fiscally-expensive subsidies, the government should strengthen targeted interventions for the most vulnerable households, including food assistance, transport support, and other carefully-designed social protection programmes” while optimistic that at 66, Nigeria has enormous economic potential.

The challenge before us is to ensure that macroeconomic reforms translate into tangible improvements in citizens’ lives and in the operating conditions of businesses, as LCCI acknowledged the progress made in restoring macroeconomic stability, believing that the next phase of reform must focus on converting stability into prosperity. “The country must now move decisively from stabilisation to inclusive growth, from consumption to production, from high operating costs to competitiveness, and from economic recovery to broad-based prosperity”, Kupoluyi stated further.