By Tony Obiechina Abuja

Amidst bitting hunger in Nigeria, the Vice President Kashim Shettima, has appealed to the organised private sector (OPS) to scale up investments in Nigeria’s food system. Shettima who is the Chairman, 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’ organised by PFSCU, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, and Nigerian Economic Summit Group, NESG.

Represented by his Special Adviser, General Duties, Dr Aliyu Modibbo, the Vice president said there is the urgent need for the private sector 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 in attendance top players in the agricultural sector and other stakeholders. “The private sector is and will remain the engine of economic growth in systems in Nigeria. Your leadership in agribusiness is essential to transform 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 market that can drive substantial agribusiness profitability. “We recognize that a market-driven approach is the only sustainablepathway to achieving long-term food security. This is why our policies and programmes 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 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” Shetima said. He, however, said he was optimism that with the private sector based on collaboration the full potential of the nation’s agricultural sector can be unlocked to ensure the food systems become inclusive and sustainable. “Let us seize this opportunity to build a prosperous, food secure Nigeria, one 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, in a remark said food production could best be driven by private sector. Kyari who was represented by the Executive Secretary, National Agricultural Development Fund, NADF, 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 create an enabling environment for private investments to flourish. “Through NADF, we are not just facilitating access to finance but also working to catalyse innovation, unlock new investment opportunities, and developing 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, PFSCU, Marion Moon, in a presentation of PFSCU’s 2025 Prioritized Initiatives pointed out that Nigeria needs 3.6 million metric tonnes of food for her population, and how to 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, well, 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 a little bit earlier. So where do these systems sit within the government? “I know WFP as this development partners issue a report, which is excellent, and we are thankful for that collaboration, but it is important that this is institutionalized within government. “We should be also having this information for ourselves. So we are looking at institutionalizing a system within the Office of the National Security Advisor, which is able then to gather this information. “We need to increase our yields. Whether it is in crops, fisheries, 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, fingerlings. So we want to look at focusing on the genetics. Can we focus on making sure that we have the right seeds? And not just have them but farmers can access, right, higher yielding seeds.” The Executive Director, Uchenna Ogbonna, Ernest Shonekan Centre, NESG, on the sidelines of the Workshop said, “We need the private sector 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 the challenges we are having in the agricultural sector. “That is why we need the private sector and the government to achieve this goal.”