Why food prices are rising — Expert

A security expert, James Vandefan, has called on President Bola Tinubu to adopt both kinetic and non-kinetic security measures to reduce the escalating insecurity in the country.

Vandefan, a retired senior police officer, attributed the rising cost of food and other agricultural produce in the country to high energy costs as well as compromises by security agents.

He stressed the need for the president to give decisive orders to the service chiefs to reduce insecurity to the barest minimum, stating that with determination and political will if the service chiefs fail to implement such presidential orders to the fullest, they should be sacked.

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Speaking with select journalists in Abuja recently, the retired police officer also linked the continued fall of the naira to government economic policies, which have also led to the high cost of food production in the country.

“Willpower is the only way to reduce insecurity to the barest level. If the president gives his orders with a timeline and stands by it, all kidnappers, terrorists, and other criminal elements in the country will be apprehended through a simultaneous operation across the land.

“And if any service chief is found wanting, they should either be sacked or dismissed. Unfortunately, that has not happened in Nigeria because civilian governments seem to respect the military too much and are afraid of giving orders that are supposed to be implemented. Once that is not done, everyone becomes careless, and that is why you see a lot of soldiers buying property everywhere today,” he said.

He urged the government to address the issue of extortion by security operatives, particularly the police, on the country’s highways as farmers transport food to the cities. He said once that is resolved, one of the factors responsible for the high cost of food would have been tackled.

“As farmers transport their produce to the markets, especially to city centres, they are made to pay at every police checkpoint, and that is not good at all. That is why, at the end of the day, whatever expenses they incur in the course of transporting this produce, they add it up, thereby causing the prices to rise,” he said.

He commended President Tinubu for his efforts aimed at reforming the economy but urged that the president needs to do more to alleviate the pains Nigerians are going through.