Why Nigeria’s $10bn Food Import Bill Persists Despite Decades of

Nigeria spends over $10 billion annually on food imports — a staggering figure that continues to raise questions about the country’s agricultural policies, financing models, and its role in the global food market.

At the First Bank 2025 Agric and Export Expo held in Lagos on Tuesday, both federal and state leaders painted a sobering picture: while Nigeria has the land, the people, and the potential, the system that should convert these into prosperity remains weak.

The Federal Government’s Alarm

Senator Abubakar Kyari, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, revealed that Nigeria still spends billions importing staples like wheat, rice, sugar, fish, and even tomato paste.

“Agriculture contributes 35 per cent of our GDP and employs 35 per cent of our workforce. We sit on 85 million hectares of land with a youthful population, yet Nigeria accounts for less than 0.5 per cent of global exports,” Kyari said.

According to him, Nigeria earns less than $400 million annually from agricultural exports. He stressed that for the Tinubu administration, achieving food sovereignty is non-negotiable — meaning the nation must produce enough food not just to feed itself, but to do so on its terms, free from dependence on imports.

The States’ Perspective: Raw Exports, Lost Wealth

Joining the call for change, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu argued that the real wealth in agriculture lies not just in cultivation but in processing, packaging, and branding.

“Exporting raw commodities means we are giving away our wealth and jobs. To truly benefit, Nigeria must build a value chain that moves our crops from farms to global supermarkets as finished products,” Sanwo-Olu said.

Niger State Governor Umar Bago echoed this view, insisting that farmers and producers should not remain at the mercy of global buyers. “If value is added to raw products, producers can determine the global price of their goods,” he noted.

Historical Echoes

The challenge is not new. From the 1970s’ Operation Feed the Nation to the Green Revolution and, more recently, the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, successive governments have promised agricultural transformation. Yet, the same themes persist: inadequate financing, weak infrastructure, and poor value addition.

Why It Matters

The paradox is glaring: a country that once fed West Africa in the pre-oil era now imports basic foodstuffs. Meanwhile, its agricultural exports remain trapped at the raw commodity stage, leaving billions in lost value.

Experts at the Lagos expo agreed that solving Nigeria’s food import crisis requires more than increasing yields. It demands:

Innovative financing models to empower farmers.
Strong value chains that include processing, storage, and packaging.
Youth participation to drive modern agribusiness.
Export competitiveness that enables Nigeria to set, rather than follow, global prices.

The Road Ahead

As Kyari put it: “Boosting domestic production and building support for exports are not separate agendas. They are two sides of the same coin.”

Unless Nigeria moves beyond raw exports and dependency on imports, the cycle will continue: importing what it could produce, and exporting what it could transform. The $10bn import bill is not just an economic statistic — it is a measure of how far Nigeria still has to go in achieving food sovereignty.

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