Rural Infrastructures and the Challenge of Food Insecurity in Nigeria: Are Good Intentions of Policymakers Enough?

The paper is based on a memorial public lecture presented in honour of the late, eminent and foremost professor of Agricultural Economics in Nigeria, Late Prof. Francis S. Idachaba (1943-2014) by the author, an erudite scholar too, mentored by the Late Prof. Idachaba himself. The paper made bold attempt at narrating the contributions of Prof. Idachaba's key contributions to Nigerian agriculture and rural development through dogged policy activism and advocacy based on scientific evidence. The purpose of the lecture thus, was not to cast aspersion on policy authorities in the same vociferous manner that Francis Idachaba used to do in and out of office; and yet remained best of friends with them till he passed but rather, as Idachaba strived to achieve in his numerous writings on the subject of this lecture, to strengthen policy makers and stakeholders' collective faith in the policy process for attaining food security in Nigeria and to ascertain the critical role of rural infrastructures in doing that. The lecture is structured into four main sections; namely: a brief background to provide a conceptual framework for interrogating the issues involved; a policy perspective of the challenge posed to attain food security; highlights of implementation strategies for meeting the challenge of food insecurity; and, the role of rural infrastructures in addressing that challenge. The lecture ends with conclusions and policy recommendations. This posthumous lecture was delivered at the 1st Francis Sulemanu Idachaba Memorial Agricultural Policy Lecture; organized by the Idachaba Foundation for Research and Scholarship (IFRES) in collaboration with Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Ibadan; held at First Bank Building, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ibadan on 15th August 2019.