Buhari blames middlemen for high prices of food items

President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed middlemen for the high prices of food items in the country.

The president however said his administration is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure the crash of high prices of food items nationwide.

Mr Buhari who gave the assurance on Thursday in series of tweets, said he has ordered the release of the 30,000 tons of maize from the national reserve to animal feed producers.

He also said the recent price hike of food items nationwide won’t last long as his administration and food producers are in talks.

This is coming after the All Progressive Congress (APC) led government increased the price of petrol and electricity tariff.

“To ease the current high cost of poultry production, I have approved the release of 30,000 tons of maize from the national reserves, to animal feed producers,” Mr Buhari said.

“We are very mindful of the challenge of high food prices, at a time when the economy is already in a slowdown caused by the global coronavirus situation, and are doing everything in our power to bring down the prices of food items across the country.

“Let me assure Nigerians that this situation of spiraling food prices will be a transient one.

“We are also engaging with food producers associations and groups to tackle the issue of exploitative behaviour by middlemen and other actors, which is one of the factors responsible for the high food prices being experienced,” he added.