Nigeria Spends $10bn Annually on Food Imports – Minister of Agriculture, Abubakar Kyari

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, has revealed that Nigeria spends over $10 billion every year on food imports, including wheat, rice, sugar, fish, and tomato paste.

Speaking at the First Bank of Nigeria’s 2025 Agric and Export Expo in Lagos on Tuesday, Kyari ,represented by his special adviser, Ibrahim Alkali lamented the rising dependence on imported food despite the country’s vast agricultural potential.

He noted that agriculture already contributes 35% to Nigeria’s GDP and employs the same percentage of the workforce, yet the nation earns less than $400 million from agro-exports and accounts for less than 0.5% of global exports.

The minister stressed the need for increased financing to drive agricultural productivity and expand Nigeria’s non-oil export base. He added that with 85 million hectares of arable land and a youth population of over 70% under 30, the country has the capacity to achieve food sovereignty.

Kyari reaffirmed President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to making food sovereignty a central goal of his administration.