Stakeholders brainstorm on food security as imports gulp $3bn in 9 months

•Hail FirstBank for hosting agric, export expo

By Chinyere Anyanwu

Nigeria’s food import bill has hit $3 billion in nine months and is expected to grow to $4 billion by the end of the year.

This was revealed yesterday by the Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago, during the fifth edition of the FirstBank Agric & Export Expo 2026 held in Lagos.

Bago, who commended FirstBank for organising the timely programme, stated that Nigeria cannot afford to keep relying on food importation to feed its growing population of 300 million people.

Speaking on the theme of the programme, “From Farm to Global Markets: Building Nigeria’s Export Value Chain”, Bago said, “this year alone, we have imported food worth over $3 billion. And before the end of this year, we may hit $4 billion. It is scary. Everywhere in Nigeria is arable land. We need to develop our local market. We need to feed ourselves. Food sovereignty is very paramount.”

Proferring solution to the country’s insecurity challenges, which affect food production adversely, the Niger State governor said, “Nigeria is inundated with a lot of security issues and the panacea for that is food first. When you do agriculture, you will solve your problems.”

Bago further said, “we must de-risk agriculture. We must de-risk production. So, the government of Nigeria, our banks, the private sector, we must take a percentage of our income to promote production.”

Also speaking, the Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, said the theme of the event is very timely and speaks directly to the direction of his administration. He said, “for too long, we have celebrated what we produce, cocoa, among other crops, and we still do that. The next phase must be about what we process, not just what we produce. What we process, what we package, what we certify, and what we export, and how much value we retain within our own economy.”

According to him, “agriculture must be seen beyond subsistence. Even though food security is important, producing for consumption; agriculture is business. It is industry. Agriculture is jobs, and it’s also export. And agriculture remains one of the strongest pathways to inclusive and sustainable economic growth.”

For his part, the Lagos State Governor, Babadjide Sanwo-Olu, expressed excitement over the FirstBank agric expo and the milestones it has achieved in the agricultural sector since inception.

According to Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food System, Abisola Olusanya, “this is the fifth edition of this expo and its continued relevance is a testament to the growing recognition that agriculture must no longer be viewed simply as an activity that feeds us, but as a powerful engine of economic growth, industrialisation, job creation, and export earnings.

“I’m particularly pleased with the theme, ‘From Farm to Global Markets: Building Nigeria’s Export Value Chain.’ This is more than a theme, it is a call to action. It speaks to the journey our agricultural products must make from the soil in Kebi to the plantations of Ondo, to the fish farms of Epe, and the production clusters across our nation, through processing, packaging, and logistics, to shelves and markets in Rotterdam, Dubai, Shanghai, Accra, and across the world.

That journey must begin with one fundamental question, how do we ensure that what we produce in Nigeria is not merely consumed locally, but is produced to compete successfully in global markets?”

The Lagos State governor assured that the state is “investing in the infrastructure that makes trade more efficient, which includes the Lekki deep seaports and the road and rail connections supporting our expanding logistics ecosystem.”

The Group Managing Director of FirstBank, Mr. Olusegun Alebiosu, said “agriculture is about livelihood, it’s about economic development, it’s about employment, it’s about foreign exchange, it’s about stability. And so, for us at FirstBank, we believe that tackling agri and export is national development. And you know that in the agri-space, there are a lot of participants, but many of them are unknown, and also they also require empowerment. So this agri-space is to showcase these companies and firms.”

He said the aim of the bank is to showcase “them, to incentivise them to do more, and then to support them further so that they can produce more for the economy and can export more.”