The Federal Government has expressed worry over the rising prices of food and commodities in the country. The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Olawale Edun, expressed worry while speaking at a bilateral meeting with a visiting German delegation, led by the country’s Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Svenja Shulze, in Abuja on Monday, February 5.
Edun said the situation, which had produced growing discontent among the citizenry, was triggered by demand and supply forces. Reacting to the different protests over the high cost of living in Kano, Niger state and others, the Minister said the only way to address the situation was to boost agricultural production, in particular, to force down inflation.
“It is the issue of demand and supply and a lot of emphasis has been placed on increasing agricultural production, in particular. The president has intervened in that sector to provide grain, fertilisers to farmers and to bring additional acreage, rice, wheat, maize, and cassava – to increase the output and thereby bring down prices and that will help bring down inflation.
And, of course, we are in the middle of the dry season farming and we are looking forward to a good dry season harvest that will ameliorate price, in particular, and the price level in Nigeria, in general.”
