The Premium Breadmakers Association of Nigeria has raised alarm over the deteriorating state of the country’s food supply chain, revealing that more than 40 per cent of bakeries nationwide have shut down between the post-COVID-19 period and 2025.
The association linked the widespread closures to escalating insecurity, harsh operating conditions and soaring production costs.
Speaking at the PBAN 2025 Day-Out Exhibition & Master Class in Lagos, themed “The Business of Baking: Pathways to Profit, Productivity, And Growth,” PBAN President Emmanuel Onuorah warned that the continuous shutdown of bakeries poses a direct threat to national food security, describing bread as one of Nigeria’s most consumed staples.
Onuorah stated that PBAN’s membership had declined sharply from over 100,000 bakeries after the COVID-19 pandemic to fewer than 60,000 today. He attributed the decline to an increasingly hostile business climate and cautioned that more bakeries could shut down if current policies remain unchanged.
He said, “We have lost more than 40 per cent of our bakeries in just four years. Many operators simply cannot survive the insecurity, the high cost of production and the absence of basic support systems.”
Addressing the insecurity affecting agricultural regions—particularly the North—Onuorah explained that persistent attacks on farmers have undermined Nigeria’s long-standing wheat backward integration agenda. According to him, while Nigeria consumes around 5.1 million metric tonnes of wheat annually, local production stands at only 300,000 metric tonnes, a shortfall worsened by violence in farming communities.
He added that insecurity has severely disrupted distribution channels, with bakers frequently losing goods and vehicles due to attacks and deteriorating road conditions.
Onuorah warned that unless the government prioritises agricultural security and protection of road users, Nigeria will remain dependent on wheat imports, leaving local bread makers vulnerable to global price swings and foreign exchange pressures.
“The government must protect Nigerians because Nigerians across divides are dying in droves. If you are going across the roads today, for us that we take our bread far, the roads are in deplorable conditions. Sometimes you go, your truck will fall on the way, you lost all your goods.
If you don’t have Goods In Transit (GIT) insurance, you are done for. Insecurity is rife; the farmers cannot go to farm. Then how can you even do the backward integration? We must get security right. If you fix security, you fix everything,” he said.
He also highlighted additional challenges confronting bakers, including high energy costs, unstable power supply, multiple taxation and double-digit interest rates.
Despite the challenges, Onuorah commended President Bola Tinubu for removing the 15 per cent wheat import duty and eliminating the Value Added Tax on wheat and grains. He said the policy shift helped stabilise bread prices after two turbulent years.
Chairman of the Planning Committee, Mrs. Adijatu Olopade, also spoke at the event, noting that the third edition of the exhibition was aimed at boosting productivity among members.
She said the country’s worsening economic climate had deeply affected bakers and expressed hope that the training sessions would help rejuvenate struggling businesses.
“The whole essence is that we wanted our members and even people that are not our members to come and be trained. It is necessary for them to know how to turn their business into a profit-making venture. So basically, that’s where we are,” she added.
