Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, has assured Nigerians that the prices of food items will drop in the coming months.
Edun explained that the government has dedicated special funding for infrastructure to boost agricultural output.
He noted that food insecurity is a worldwide phenomenon.
Speaking during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, Edun asserted that government focus has been on ramping up food production through the provision of seeds, fertilisers, amongst others.
The minister assured Nigerians that with the dry season and wet season harvest, food inflation will come down.
He said, “We can expect that food prices will come down and food availability will increase.
“Inflation, yes, it is high at 33.65%, food inflation at 40.5% is worrisomely high but the fact is that inflation is coming down, month-on-month. It is slowing and it is expected to reduce as we continue the dry season harvest and then we go into the wet season harvest.
“That is the place to focus on and a lot of emphasis is being placed on that to get agriculture output up, to get prices down, and that will be a nig factor in bringing down inflation.”
Prices of food and basic commodities have gone through the roof in the last weeks, as Nigerians battle economic crisis sparked by the government’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows.