For Nigeria to be self-reliant, and industrialise its economy, the country’s food security strategy must be anchored on boosting domestic agricultural productivity, strengthening value chains, and improving market access, not on reliance on external supply channels.

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), while reacting to the policy proposition by the World Bank in its recent Nigerian Development Update, advocating increased importation of petroleum products and food as a solution to Nigeria’s supply-side constraints, said the policy will have grave consequences on the country’s economy.

Titled: “CPPE Warns Against World Bank Advocacy For Increased Fuel And Food Imports and signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Dr Muda Yusuf, CPPE said import surges is capable of depressing farmgate prices; discourage investment in agriculture; erode rural incomes and livelihoods; and undermine food system resilience.

Yusuf noted that across advanced economies, there is a clear shift away from unrestrained trade liberalisation towards strategic protectionism, noting that governments are increasingly prioritizing domestic production capacity; supply chain resilience; local content development; and economic security

He said: “It is therefore paradoxical—and indeed worrying—that the World Bank is urging developing economies such as Nigeria to embrace policy prescriptions that many advanced economies are increasingly retreating from. Across the developed world, there is a clear resurgence of strategic protectionism and supply chain reconfiguration—driven by lessons from recent global disruptions, including the pandemic and ongoing geopolitical tensions.

“Major economies are prioritising domestic production, safeguarding critical industries, and deploying subsidies, tariffs, and localisation policies to strengthen economic resilience and national security. In contrast, recommending import liberalisation for countries still grappling with structural deficits and industrial fragility risks entrenching dependence, undermining local capacity, and stalling the industrialisation process.”

Yusuf stressed that the World Bank should recalibrate its policy advisory towards industrialisation-driven reforms, rather than import expansion. “Priority policy recommendations should include – expansion of domestic refining capacity and guaranteed crude supply to local refineries; targeted interventions to reduce production costs, especially energy and logistics; strengthening manufacturing ecosystems and industrial clusters; enhancing agricultural productivity and agro-processing value chains; addressing structural bottlenecks constraining private sector production; and promoting backward integration and local content development. These are the policy pathways that will deliver sustainable growth, job creation, and economic resilience.

“Sustainable economic transformation is anchored on production, value addition, and industrial capability—not import dependence. The suggestion that supply-side constraints can be addressed through increased imports runs counter to Nigeria’s long-term development aspirations.

“What the Nigerian economy urgently requires is a coherent industrial strategy that expands domestic production capacity, strengthens manufacturing competitiveness and deepens value chains across critical sectors

“Import-driven solutions risk accelerating de-industrialisation, weakening the real sector, and undermining job creation prospects in an economy with a rapidly growing labour force.”