The Federal Government has assured Nigerians that the country would not experience shortage of food.
The Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr Mohammad Abubakar, gave the assurance at the fifth edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) Administration Scorecard 2015-2017 series.
The scorecard series is organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture to showcase the achievements of the President Buhari’s Administration in over seven years of being in office.
Abubakar said that there is no shortage of food in the country, saying that the country is self-sufficient in rice.
“Absolutely, we have enough to eat in this country, there is no shortage of food. There can be increase in prices Yes, it is better to have inflation than to have no food.
“We are self-sufficient in rice and we are number one producer of rice in Africa and number four in the world.
“We are also number one producer of cassava and yam as well as number two producer of sorghum after America and number three producer of millet.
“We have enough to eat and we will continue to have enough to eat,’’ he said.
The minister said the inflationary trend the country was witnessing was not peculiar to Nigeria but a global crisis.
He attributed climate change and the effects of COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war as among the reasons for the global inflation.
`Three weeks ago a friend of mine living in London, said to me that it usually costs him like five pounds to fuel his car for a week. He said now it is costing him about 100 pounds to fuel the same car for one week,’’ he said.