To revive farm settlements as food imports gulp $10b yearly

To ensure sufficiency of refined petroleum products in the country, the House of Representatives has indicated plans to introduce a new legislation that will grant local refineries the right of first refusal on crude oil allocations.
 
It also commenced moves to revive Nigeria’s farm settlement scheme as part of efforts to tackle food insecurity and reduce the nation’s dependence on food imports, which gulp about $10 billion yearly.
 
The plan to introduce new legislation is aimed at protecting and promoting Nigeria’s local refineries.  Chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Ikenga Ugochinyere, disclosed this yesterday during the inaugural yearly Downstream Week Summit held at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.
 
Ugochinyere said the House would also develop a Refinery Protection and Promotion Bill to classify refineries as strategic national assets – ensuring they receive priority protection and support. The proposed law, he added, will guarantee unhindered access to crude feedstock and safeguard refinery operations across the country.
 
According to him, the measures are crucial for sustaining investor confidence, creating jobs and strengthening Nigeria’s energy independence. He commended the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) for enforcing the Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligation (DCSO) on all producers, describing it as a bold move that guarantees local refineries – both modular and conventional – access to crude before export allocations are made.
 
“It represents a decisive shift from policy rhetoric to practical support for local value addition, job creation and energy independence,” Ugochinyere stated. “By ensuring that every barrel of Nigerian crude first serves the Nigerian refinery, the NUPRC has sent a strong signal: Nigeria will refine what it produces and consume what it refines.”
 
Acknowledging recent labour concerns involving Dangote Refinery and sector unions, the lawmaker noted that such challenges were not uncommon in developing economies, but must not be allowed to undermine productivity and national stability.
 
In his remarks, the Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen, represented by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, said Nigeria’s oil and gas industry was witnessing an unprecedented revival under President Bola Tinubu, noting that the effective take-off of the Dangote Refinery marked a turning point in the nation’s quest for energy self-sufficiency.

THE move to revive the farm settlements followed a public hearing yesterday on three key agricultural bills by the House Committee on Agricultural Production and Services in Abuja. Stakeholders deliberated on the three proposed legislations that would define the nation’s agricultural landscape.
 
They are ‘A Bill for an Act to Amend the National Agricultural Development Fund (Establishment) Act, 2025 (HB 2036)’, ‘A Bill for an Act to Establish the National Farm Settlements Agency to Promote Agricultural Development, Ensure Food Security, and Foster Economic Growth (HB 1347) and
‘A Bill for an Act to Provide a Legal Framework for the Establishment of the National Rice Production, Processing and Research Institute, Argungu, Kebbi State (HB 423)’. 
 
The lawmakers’ push to restore the farm settlement system recalls the visionary plan introduced by the late Premier of the defunct Western Region, Obafemi Awolowo, between 1955 and 1960.
 
Awolowo’s administration, after studying Israel’s agricultural cooperative model known as Moshav, established 20 farm settlements and five agricultural institutes across the Western Region in 1959.
 
The model was later adopted by the Eastern and Northern regions in the early 1960s but gradually collapsed due to policy neglect, poor funding and weak institutional support.

 This also comes amid alarming figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showing that Nigeria’s food import bill rose by 33 per cent in Q2 2025 to N1.18 trillion, from N893 billion in the same period last year.
 
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, recently disclosed that Nigeria spends about $10 billion yearly on food imports, including wheat and fish, despite vast arable land and a favourable climate.