Nigeria spent N3.30 trillion on food and beverage imports in the first half of 2026, a 3.1% decrease from the same period a year earlier, prompting accounting professor and financial analyst Godwin Oyedokun to warn that the figures reveal deep weaknesses in the country’s agricultural economy.
Food import bill reaches N3.3 trillion
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics’ Q2 2026 Foreign Trade Statistics, released on Tuesday, showed that import spending climbed from N1.39 trillion in the first quarter to N1.91 trillion in the second quarter.
Nigeria’s H1 2026 total compares with N3.40 trillion recorded in the first six months of 2025. During that earlier period, food and beverage imports amounted to N1.67 trillion in Q1 and N1.73 trillion in Q2.
The 2026 import bill was distributed across three main categories:
- Primary products intended largely for household consumption totalled N811.93 billion, increasing from N280.81 billion in Q1 to N531.12 billion in Q2.
- Primary products mainly purchased for industrial use amounted to N770.54 billion, comprising N353.24 billion in the first quarter and N417.31 billion in the second.
- Processed food and beverage imports accounted for N1.72 trillion, rising from N758.52 billion in Q1 to N956.67 billion in Q2.
Long-term rise adds pressure to food security
The latest half-year figure follows a sharp increase in Nigeria’s annual food and beverage import costs. Earlier NBS figures put the 2025 total at N7.65 trillion, up from N6.58 trillion in 2024. Import spending stood at N3.83 trillion in 2023 and N2.86 trillion in 2022.
The trend comes as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that approximately 34.7 million Nigerians may experience severe food insecurity during the next lean season.
Oyedokun points to agricultural constraints
Oyedokun, a Professor of Accounting at Lead City University in Ibadan, said in an interview that the N3.3 trillion bill highlighted structural problems rather than merely reflecting a high level of trade.
He said the central concern was Nigeria’s continued dependence on overseas supplies for goods that could be produced and processed locally. In his assessment, the sector is being held back by a combination of factors:
- Insecurity affecting farming activity;
- Expensive agricultural inputs;
- Restricted access to farm finance;
- Insufficient irrigation;
- Inadequate storage capacity;
- Weak transport networks; and
- Limited agro-processing infrastructure.
Oyedokun cautioned that sustained reliance on imported food would increase pressure on the foreign-exchange market. It would also leave Nigerian households more exposed to movements in global prices and fluctuations in the naira’s exchange rate.
Call for a long-term production strategy
He urged the Federal Government to replace a focus on short-term emergency measures with a durable plan to raise farm output and reduce excessive import dependence.
That approach, he said, should concentrate on commercial-scale agriculture, irrigation, mechanisation, reasonably priced credit, storage, rural infrastructure and food processing.
Rather than seeking to eliminate imports altogether, Oyedokun said Nigeria should build an agricultural system that supplies a much greater share of domestic needs while expanding the processing and value addition of locally produced commodities.
He described the H1 import figure as a warning about the country’s unrealised agricultural capacity. In his view, imports should supplement domestic production, not replace it, and the N3.3 trillion outlay should be understood not only as a trade statistic but also as an indication of the economic opportunities being lost.
