Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of making Nigeria increasingly dependent on food imports while neglecting local farmers and producers.
Atiku made the claim in a statement issued on Wednesday by his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu.
DAILY POST reports that Nigeria’s agricultural trade balance swung from a N740.27 billion surplus in the first half of 2025 to a N56.13 billion deficit in the corresponding period of 2026, representing a N796.40 billion reversal.
Agricultural exports also fell by 33.3 per cent year-on-year to N1.98 trillion in H1 2026, while imports declined by 8.5 per cent to N2.03 trillion.
Reacting to the development, Atiku said the government could not describe growing dependence on food imports and declining agricultural exports as economic reform.
“Tinubu cannot call this reform when the people who grow our food and the businesses that should process it are being squeezed from both sides,” Atiku said.
“The excuse that Nigerians simply imported too much will not stand. Tinubu’s government must answer for the collapse in what Nigeria sold to the world. The country is losing export earnings, and the President owes farmers, workers and businesses more than another speech about prosperity.
“What has his administration done to make it safer to farm, cheaper to move produce, easier to keep a processing plant running or more profitable to sell a finished Nigerian product abroad? Farmers cannot cultivate promises. Manufacturers cannot power factories with speeches. Workers cannot feed their families on assurances that prosperity is coming.”
Atiku noted that Nigeria’s leading agricultural exports include commodities such as cashew nuts in shell and cocoa beans, arguing that the country could retain more value by expanding domestic processing.
“We grow the crop. Someone else does more of the processing, builds a business around it and earns the larger return. Then Tinubu speaks of jobs while Nigerian factories struggle to compete. He has made production expensive and called the resulting hardship reform.
“A trade deficit alone does not explain every problem on our farms. But after more than three years in office, the President owns the decisions that have left farmers exposed and producers burdened. He cannot claim credit for every favourable statistic and disown a N796.40 billion reversal when the figures turn against him,” he stated.
The latest data show that agricultural exports fell sharply in the second quarter of 2026, with exports dropping to N802.99 billion from N1.26 trillion a year earlier, while agricultural imports rose to N1.20 trillion.