The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II — a former Central Bank governor who understands both sides of the inflation equation — has issued one of the sharpest critiques yet of Nigeria’s food import policy, arguing that it is systematically destroying the farmers who produce the country’s food.
According to the Guardian (February 17, 2026), the Emir pleaded with the Federal Government to stop food importation, arguing that farmers spend heavily to produce but cannot recover their costs because their output cannot compete with imported commodities.
The numbers give his argument weight. The National Bureau of Statistics data, as reported by the Guardian, shows that Nigeria spent ₦5.27 trillion on food and beverage imports in the first nine months of 2025 alone. That flood of imported food — enabled partly by zero-duty waivers on commodities like rice, wheat, and maize — has been instrumental in pushing food inflation down to 8.89 percent in January 2026, the lowest reading in over 14 years according to Nairametrics (February 16, 2026).
But for producers, the same dynamic has been catastrophic. The Guardian reported that the result is a paradox: food prices have become cheap, but agrochemicals and other farming inputs remain alarmingly high, eroding farmers’ income. The month-on-month trend shows a deflation of -6.02 percent in January — what NBS describes as “entrenched deflation” — which, while welcome for consumers, represents collapsing revenue for producers.
The President of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group, Kabir Ibrahim, warned in the same Guardian report that the pervading insecurity and high input prices facing smallholder farmers call for decisive action to avoid imminent severe stresses in the food system in 2026 and beyond. The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), also cited by the Guardian, has called for a clear rules-based and market-friendly farm price stabilisation framework, including minimum guaranteed prices for strategic commodities such as maize, rice paddy, sorghum, and soybeans.
Sanusi’s critique is rooted in long-standing concerns about policy inconsistency. Speaking at a joint WFP and AfDB session alongside the Nigeria Economic Summit in Abuja, as reported by Daily Post (October 8, 2025), the Emir warned that frequent policy reversals — such as easing food import restrictions — destroy local investment and push farmers into debt.
“The biggest problem I have seen with our country is the lack of policy continuity. Every time you have an election, it is as if everybody starts on a clean slate,” Sanusi told the session, as reported by Daily Post.
He cited his own experience as CBN governor, when he initiated studies on six agricultural value chains, including a tomato project in Kano that identified 13 varieties suitable for paste production. According to AllAfrica (October 8, 2025), outdated laws and subsequent policy abandonment killed the initiative before it could mature.
In a separate interview with News Central reported by Vanguard, the Emir said he supports 70 to 80 percent of the government’s economic direction but has specific reservations about food importation and the quality of public expenditure.
For consumers, falling food prices are unambiguously welcome. For the country’s long-term food security, however, a system that provides relief by destroying domestic production capacity is borrowing against its own future. The question policymakers must answer is whether Nigeria’s current price relief is being purchased at the cost of the next production crisis.