Tinubu’s aide deletes statement announcing duty-free food importation

The presidency has said that the suspension of taxes on importation of food commodities is not yet official.

On Monday, the presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, released a statement which announced that President Bola Tinubu approved the duty-free importation of major food items like rice, beans and wheat, as part of efforts to address rising food prices in the country.

PREMIUM TIMES reported Monday that Mr Onanuga, in a statement quoting Agriculture Minister Abubakar Kyari and posted on his official X page, said the President approved a “150-Day Duty-Free Import Window for Food Commodities”.

He listed the food commodities to include “Maize, Husked Brown Rice, Wheat and Cowpeas” and that the proactive measures were to be “implemented over the next 180 days.”

However, Mr Onanuga’s post was eventually deleted a few minutes after it was published on his page.

On Tuesday, PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the statement posted by the president’s aide was still being reviewed by relevant MDAs before it was leaked.

“The Agric minister did not hold any briefing yesterday. The statement was forwarded to Onanuga to review but we are surprised that he posted it. It’s still being reviewed. There is nothing we can do about it. As you can see he has deleted the post,” a top official at the ministry, who asked not to be named since he was not authorised to speak on the matter, told PREMIUM TIMES.

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Mr Onanuga was also quoted by TheCable as saying that “the measures are not yet official.”

Meanwhile, in the statement, he said not only will the government now allow duty-free import for the private sector for 150 days, the federal government will “import 250,000MT of Wheat and 250,000MT of Maize. The imported food commodities in their semi-processed state will target supplies to the small-scale processors and millers across the country.”