Why Kogi, Kwara, Abia has highest price of food, by experts
 
President Bola Tinubu has ordered the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu; Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun; and Director General of Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi, to work with governors and go after those hoarding foodstuff.
  
However, agriculture experts have attributed the high cost of food in Kogi, Kwara, Abia, Akwa Ibom states to low food production, insecurity, lack of subsidy, climate change, poor rural road infrastructure, high cost of transportation among other state peculiarities.
  
Nigeria has been battling a rise in the cost of food items occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy and insecurity, among other factors. The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this, after a meeting between Tinubu and governors, yesterday.
  
“First, the NSA, IGP and DG of DSS have been directed to coordinate with the state governors to look at this issue of those hoarding commodities.
  
“At this point that the nation requires food to be brought out to the people, so that we can control prices and put food on the table of most Nigerians, commodity sellers are busy hoarding these commodities, so that Nigerians will suffer or they will make more money as a result.”
  
Tinubu had ordered the release of grains to ease the rising cost of food items, with the Federal Government mulling importation of food. But Idris said that would not be the case anymore.
  
He stated: “A decision has also been taken that, in the interest of our country, there would be no need for food importation at this time. Nigeria has the potential to feed itself and be a net exporter of food items to other countries.
  
“We do not also want to reverse some of the progress we have seen in terms of food production in this country. What we are seeing now is just a temporary difficulty that will soon go away.”

NATIONAL Bureau of Statistics (NBS) put the January 2024 food inflation rate at 35.41 per cent from the 33.93 per cent in December 2023. Kogi reportedly has the highest rate at 44 per cent, followed by Kwara (41), then Abia, Akwa Ibom, Ekiti, Imo, Ondo, Osun, Rivers, Delta, Ebonyi and Cross River.
  
Most states in the North have the lowest rates of food, with Bauchi at 29 per cent followed by Plateau, Nasarawa, Kano, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Sokoto and Zamfara at about 31 per cent.

  
According to agriculturist, Vincent Yusuf, one of the reasons for high cost of food in Kogi is low food production, as most of the food consumed in the state are brought in from other states, despite having a large expanse of arable land.
  
President of Potato Farmers Association of Nigeria, Dan Okafor, attributed the high cost of food in the South East to insecurity in the states, saying unless the government tackled the insecurity head-long, things would not change.
  
Also, Prof Olusegun Okoruwa of the University of Ibadan attributed the high food prices to high cost of fuel, which impacted on the transportation cost of bringing the food to the market, adding that the purchasing power is low.