Those Who Advised Tinubu To Waive Import Duties, Taxes On Food Are Clueless – Buhari’s Ex-Aide

Former Special Adviser on Agriculture to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, Dolapo Bright, has stated that the rise in the price of diesel and petrol, which are essential to the transportation of food items, led to the high cost of food commodities.

He claimed that President Bola Tinubu was deceived by his advisers that suspending duties, tariffs, and taxes on the importation of food staples through land and sea borders would reduce inflation.

Bright shared his concerns on Sunday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Inside Sources.

He said, “I don’t think it happened. The person who advised the government to do that, the person is clueless, if you understand what is happening, you won’t give such advice. The person is misleading the president. Do you know why? Let’s assume that you are going to import. Importation is going to be into Lagos. Are you not going to transport the thing to other states? It doesn’t make sense because that is going to make our agriculture stagnant.”

Naija News reports that to stem food inflation, the Tinubu administration in July 2024 announced the suspension of customs duties on imported food items but the policy has reportedly not seen the light of the day due to bureaucratic bottlenecks.

Bright argued that the government has been partly responsible for inflation because the administration is trying to sit on the driver’s side of agriculture instead of allowing the private sector to do so.

He said farmers won’t necessarily need the government’s intervention if the right environment is set for them to make a decent profit.

“A lot of farmers are not producing the capacity they were producing before because of high input costs,” he said, blaming the cost of diesel and petrol, which he said significantly affect harvests.