By Baba Lawan
August 2025
The recent announcement by the Farmers’ Association, in partnership with the Grain Merchants, of their intention to sue the Federal Government at the International Court over market interventions is both surprising and telling. Their claim—that the government’s food importation policy and price regulation measures are “destroying their businesses”—reveals the shaky moral foundation of profit-driven advocacy.
Speaking for the group, Alhaji Tanimu Dan Kaka argued that importing food without consulting agricultural experts is “ill-advised” and will cause “severe losses” for traders, particularly in Northern Nigeria. He suggested that the government should first subsidize fertilizer and adopt a long-term price strategy for the next year. According to him, their grievance has already been forwarded to international legal experts for consideration.
While the right to seek legal redress is fundamental, the moral weight of this case collapses under scrutiny. For years, these same traders enjoyed unprecedented profits while ordinary Nigerians were forced to choose between putting food on the table and meeting other basic needs. Between 2015 and 2024, restrictive import policies—often defended as protectionist—enabled traders to hoard goods, inflate prices, and manipulate scarcity for personal gain. During those years, they never once championed the cause of the hungry. Now, because their profits are threatened, they present themselves as victims.
The Hypocrisy of Selective Outrage
In 2023, a bag of maize sold for between ₦20,000 and ₦25,000. By 2024, the price had soared to ₦100,000. Traders exploited the situation by sweeping through rural markets during harvest, buying at ₦75,000 per bag—not to stabilize the market, but to resell at double the price. This was not the invisible hand of the market at work; it was the clenched fist of economic exploitation.
Where was the Farmers’ Association’s outrage then? Their silence was not due to ignorance but to self-interest.
History Shows That No Hardship Lasts Forever
Economic hardship is not new to Nigeria. The country has weathered—and overcome—successive cycles of scarcity and inflation:
World War I (1914–1918) brought shortages and price spikes.[^1]
The 1919 post-war spike subsided within a year.[^2]
The Great Depression (1929–1939) disrupted colonial trade.[^3]
World War II (1939–1945) again drove prices higher.[^4]
The Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970) devastated agriculture.[^5]
The drought of 1972–1974 caused famine in Northern Nigeria.[^6]
Buhari’s military regime (1984–1985) imposed strict rationing.[^7]
Babangida’s Structural Adjustment Programme (1986) brought sharp price increases.[^8]
The 2015–2025 turbulence pushed millions to the brink.[^9]
In every instance, the crisis eventually passed, prices stabilized, and trade resumed. As Ibn Khaldun wrote in his Muqaddimah: “The world of the past resembles the world of the future as water resembles water.”[^10] Economies rise and fall in cycles; exploitation, no matter how entrenched, is never permanent.
Why the Federal Government’s Intervention Matters
For the first time in years, Nigerians are beginning to see inflation ease. The importation of essential food items and regulated pricing is not meant to punish farmers or traders but to protect citizens from market abuse.
It is dishonest for those who profited from mass suffering to suddenly invoke “justice” when their own earnings are at risk. Lawsuits will not fill empty stomachs—collaboration will. If the Farmers’ Association truly cares about livelihoods, it should work with the government to boost local production, expand storage facilities, and ensure year-round supply chains.
A Call to Reason
Neither hardship nor profit lasts forever. Money runs out, and so does the age of unchecked profiteering. In a healthy economy, traders exist to facilitate fair exchange—not to hold society hostage. History’s verdict is clear: those who oppose affordable food for the masses inevitably find themselves on the wrong side of justice.
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