The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Tajudeen Abbas, has said that over 15 food security-related bills aimed at tackling hunger are at different stages of the enactment process in the House of Representatives.
According to him, these include the National Food Reserve Agency (Establishment) Bill, 2023, Food Processing and Preservation Centre, Osi Ekiti, Kwara State (Establishment) Bill, 2023, Food Vendors (Registration) Council of Nigeria (Establishment), Bill 2023, Nigeria Food Security Bill, 2023 among others.
Abbas stated this at the 22nd Daily Trust Dialogue, which had the theme, “Food Security: Availability or Affordability,” and the presentation of the Newspaper’s Unsung Heroes awards, held at the NAF Conference Centre in Abuja, yesterday.
The Speaker noted that affordability is a decisive issue in food security because low-income populations become vulnerable when food prices increase, especially staple crops.
Represented by the chairman, House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, Hon. Chike John Okafor, Abbas said the Green Chamber is committed to enacting policies that support farmers with subsidies, access to credit, and modern farming techniques and inputs.
He said the 10th House also aims to develop legislation promoting digital innovation, data protection, and e-commerce while enhancing Nigeria’s export potential and reducing dependency through unnecessary imports.
“We are pushing beyond the limits to ensure massive and transformative collaboration between the government and the private sector in seed production, agro-processing, and infrastructure development. These are critical towards achieving our national vision of food security.
“Our commitment is reinforced by the creation of several committees, such as the committee on agricultural production and services, which oversees farm production and stabilisation of prices; plant industry soil and agrarian engineering; fertilisers matters; and food security, amongst many others. The Nutrition and Food Security Committee was created to address national hunger challenges, and it was created for the first time in the 10th House of Representatives.”
Abbas stated that the legislators understood their role in providing the legal frameworks and oversights essential for these policies to succeed, and had been doing so.
“For example, apart from the Bills at the different stages of the legislative processes, we have passed the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria Act (Amendment) Bill, which is a step in the right direction in providing the relevant framework for soil and seed research in the face of climate change.
“Furthermore, the House only recently held a hearing on ten agriculture-related bills, many focusing on establishing research institutes in organic agriculture and food safety research, energy, forestry and fisheries. These Bills underscore our commitment to providing the necessary legal framework to revitalise the agricultural sector, thereby combating food insecurity,” he said.
Abbas said that, most recently, members of the House dedicated most of their constituency projects to agricultural inputs, grains, and related interventions that are essential for their constituents’ livelihoods.
He noted that the House made a substantial allocation in the (2023) Supplementary budget for purchasing food and other related agricultural inputs. He said the 2025 budget under legislative consideration had the agricultural sector as one of the sectors with the highest allocation, all geared towards addressing critical challenges of food and insecurity.
Lamenting the menace of food insecurity in the country, Abbas recalled that the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning (FMBEP), in its 2024 Cadre Harmonise Report, indicated that over 31.8 million Nigerians were suffering from acute food insecurity compounded with malnutrition among women and children.
Earlier in 2023, the Nigeria office of Foos ans Agricultual Organisation (FAO) projected that 26.5 million Nigerians would face food insecurity.
The Speaker noted that insecurity contributed significantly to the problem.
“We cannot effectively discuss issues impacting poor agricultural yield and food insecurity in Nigeria without mentioning the devastating effect of insecurity across the country on farming communities. Insecurity in Nigeria has led to declining agricultural productivity, displacement of farmers and poor yield.
“Today, the federal government is making every possible effort to address this and ensure that farmers return to their communities and lands because the decline in productivity leads to food shortages and economic loss for both the country and the farmers… “We are at a turning point; the renewed hope agenda of President Tinubu makes it clear that ensuring food security requires a renewed focus on agriculture,” he added.
In his presentation, the minister of livestock development, Idi Maiha, reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to ensuring that every Nigerian has access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food.
Maiha declared that ending hunger in Nigeria was not an aspiration but a necessity which required the collective effort of government, private sector actors, civil society, and development partners.
“Together, we can turn the tide against hunger and build a nation where food security is a reality for all. I hope that today’s dialogue will elucidate further insights and forge a pathway that we shall all commit to together to end the prevalence of hunger in Nigeria,” he said.
He said addressing hunger involves tackling both the availability and affordability of food, as these factors are critical in ensuring equitable access to nutrition.
“In the 2024 Global Hunger Index (GHI), Nigeria was ranked 110th out of the 127 countries. With a score of 28.8 in the 2024 Global Hunger Index, Nigeria has a profound hunger level. Per capita milk consumption in Nigeria is low, at around 8.7 litres per year, well below the global average of 44 litres per person per year.
“The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends consuming 210 litres of milk annually. Per capita meat consumption in Nigeria is approximately 7.3 kg per year, which, while lower than the global average, is steadily increasing due to rising incomes and urbanisation. There is a gap between current production and the Nigerian population’s expected protein and energy requirements.“By 2050 and beyond, available data suggests that animal-derived foods would have to supply 37.4% more energy and 9.0% more protein than currently exists to meet the additional energy and protein needs of the projected Nigerian population of 389.615 million,” Maiha added.
In his remarks, the chairman of the occasion and founder/director general of Songhai Farms, Benin Republic, Rev’d Fr (Prof.) Godfrey Nzamujo said the fundamental flaw in today’s conventional food and agricultural systems lies in their reliance on practices that ignore the planet’s natural principles and patterns.He said central to this oversight is the disregard for microorganisms—essential components of the ecological and trophic pyramid that underpin the food chain. He added that they are the unseen architects of soil fertility, plant health, and nutrient cycling, forming the foundation of a thriving ecosystem.
Fr Nzamujo said the consequences of this flawed agricultural system are stark: environmental degradation, soil erosion, rural decay, mass migration from rural areas, and escalating unemployment in Nigeria while over 60% of the soil is degraded, costing the nation approximately 13% of its GDP annually.
“Alarmingly, despite these clear warnings, we fail to fully comprehend the severity of a population surpassing 200 million, facing a diminishing and rapidly degrading per capita land area. This situation is a ticking time bomb, threatening the nation’s future stability and prosperity.
“At Songhai, our stance is clear: by shifting our mindset and worldview and fostering the development of innovative technologies and social and physical infrastructures that align with our planet’s fundamental principles and patterns, we can transform challenges into opportunities.
“The Songhai model exemplifies what can be accomplished when we courageously dismantle outdated paradigms and embrace progressive institutions and practices. Yes, we can produce more and better with less. That is the only way we can make food available and affordable. He added that this transformation is already underway in Nigeria and is led by a new generation of young leaders driving change,” he added.
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