Tinubu Orders FEC Committee to Crash Food Prices 

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Since the removal of the fuel subsidy and due to other challenges such as high transportation costs, insecurity on major transport routes, and inflation, many Nigerians have been struggling with sharply rising food prices. Staples like rice, tomatoes, beans, oil, etc., have become increasingly unaffordable for large segments of the population. This has heightened concerns about food security and economic hardship.  

What the Directive Entails 

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has given marching orders to a Federal Executive Council (FEC) committee to move quickly to bring down the cost of food across Nigeria.  

Some of the specific measures announced: 

Safe passage of agricultural produce: Ensuring farm produce can move through various routes without hindrance. This is aimed at cutting down the costs incurred via detours, delays, road hazards, or informal “taxes” along transport routes.  

Reducing transportation/logistics costs, which currently add significantly to the price consumers pay.  

Supporting farm productivity through schemes like the Farmer Soil Health Scheme.  

Cooperative reform: Revamping the cooperative sector so that farmers can have better collective organization, better bargaining power, resource mobilization, and lower costs for inputs and distribution.  

“The President has given a marching order to a Federal Executive Council committee already working on this issue, on how we are going to promote safe passage of agricultural goods and commodities across our various routes in the country.” 

— Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security  

What Nigerians Should Watch Out For  

If this directive is well implemented, Nigerians may begin to see lower incremental price increases for food items, especially staples that depend heavily on transport (grains, vegetables, tubers, etc.). 

Security on transport routes will matter. If roads are unsafe, or subject to blockades, extortion, or banditry, then “safe passage” becomes aspirational. Monitoring and enforcement will be crucial. 

The speed of implementation is key. Announcements alone don’t change prices; logistical bottlenecks, poor infrastructure, and delayed policy actions can erode the benefit. 

For farmers, cooperatives, and rural producers this policy can offer relief in terms of input costs, market access, and possibly better incomes — but only if cooperatives are empowered and supported.

President Bola Tinubu’s directive to the FEC committee is a timely and potentially impactful move toward alleviating food inflation in Nigeria. By targeting transportation and logistics, safe passage of produce, and bolstering farm productivity through soil health and cooperatives, the government appears to be attacking some of the root causes of high food prices. However, the success of this effort hinges on execution — securing transport routes, ensuring accountability, delivering inputs, and ensuring reforms in cooperatives are genuine and reach ordinary farmers. For Nigerians, these steps, if followed through, could mean more affordable food, better planning of household budgets, and relief from some of the current economic pressure.