The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has called for urgent action to address the underlying causes of the nation’s current inflationary trends.

Ayoola Olukanni, Director General, NACCIMA, made the call in reaction to the 18.17 per cent March inflation figure as released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Mr Olukanni said the call was pertinent to enable the nation to achieve the 2.5 per cent projected growth for the year.

The inflation rate rose to 18.17 per cent in March from 17.33 per cent recorded in February, representing a 0.82 per cent increase.

Similarly, food inflation spiked to 22.95 per cent from 21.79 per cent recorded in the previous month, translating to a 1.16 per cent increase.

The rise in the food index was caused by a hike in bread, cereal, potatoes, yam, other tubers, meat, vegetables, fish, fruits, oils, and fats’ price.

The NACCIMA boss added that the most significant underlying cause to address was the issue of insecurity and its attendant impact on agricultural production, especially by smallholder farmers.

According to him, many of these farmers were either unable to engage in active farming or evacuate their farm produce.

He noted that the shortage of foreign exchange, depreciation in the exchange rate, and huge import bills combined to produce the upward inflationary trend.

“NACCIMA, on several occasions, in recent past, has warned that the upward trajectory of inflation is what will happen if action is not taken to address underlining causes of the trends. Steps must be taken by the government to arrest the trend.

“In all of these, perhaps the most important is the issue of insecurity because business and productive activities only thrive in a safe and secured environment,” he said.

Mr Olukanni added, “An enduring solution must, therefore, be found to the problems of banditry and other sources of insecurity across the country.” 

He, therefore, stressed the need to expedite action on the energy component under the Economic Sustainability Plan as part of the strategic options designed to address the energy crisis.

“To address food inflation, there must be a significant improvement in road infrastructure to facilitate movement of farm produce and goods across the country,” Mr Olukanni explained.

(NAN)