Atiku accuses Tinubu of importing food, abandoning farmers

The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) yesterday in Abuja called on the federal government to increase security funding to significantly curb rising food prices.
  
TUC President, Festus Osifo, who spoke at the end of the TUC Administrative Council meeting, explained that persistent insecurity was keeping farmers from their farms, discouraging investment, and threatening food production.
  
In the meantime, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of presiding over a sharp reversal in Nigeria’s agricultural trade.
  
In a statement yesterday by the Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president said the country moved from a N740.27 billion surplus to a N56.13 billion deficit in one year.
  
According to Atiku, the figures were a troubling reflection of an economy in which farmers are struggling with insecurity, manufacturers are battling high production costs, and Nigeria continues to lose value by exporting raw agricultural products instead of processing them locally.
  
Osifo argued that protection of lives and property must take precedence over infrastructure development because Nigerians must first be alive and secure to benefit from government investments.

He said the worsening insecurity in parts of the country had prevented farmers from returning to their farms, with serious implications for food availability, household welfare and the wider economy.
   
Consequently, he urged the government to double its efforts and increase the funds allocated to fighting insecurity, arguing that investment in roads, power and education would have limited value if citizens could not live, work and produce safely.
   
The TUC leader also warned that insecurity was affecting investors’ willingness to commit capital to the Nigerian economy, saying that uncertainty and threats to lives and property could discourage both domestic and foreign investment.
   
The TUC further urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that the 2027 electoral process is fair, transparent, and open, arguing that leaders who emerge through credible elections are more likely to be accountable to citizens than to political godfathers.
   
Moreover, it threatened renewed labour action over unresolved issues arising from the previous Joint Health Sector Negotiation Council (JOHESU) strike.
   
Saying that commitments contained in the agreement that led to the suspension of the strike had not been implemented, the union gave the Health Minister, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, a few days to address the outstanding issues.
   
Meanwhile, Atiku said agricultural exports fell by 33.3 per cent in the first half of 2026, contributing to the N796.40 billion reversal from the corresponding period of 2025, adding that “the excuse that Nigerians simply imported too much will not stand.
   
“Tinubu’s government must answer for the collapse in what Nigeria sold to the world. The country is losing export earnings, and the President owes farmers, workers and businesses more than another speech about prosperity.”
   
He added that insecurity, the cost of moving farm produce and the burden of keeping processing plants running had further weakened production.