The president of the Premium Breadmakers Association of Nigeria (PBAN), Engr. Onuorah Emmanuel, has raised the alarm over the worsening economic conditions crippling the baking industry.
He revealed that more than half of bakeries belonging to his members alone have shut down in recent years due to skyrocketing production costs, high interest rates, and insecurity.
Speaking during the PBAN’s ‘Day Out 2025’, which was held in Lagos with the theme: “The Business of Baking: Pathways to Profit, Productivity and Growth”, Emmanuel painted a bleak picture of the sector, lamenting that bakers are battling multiple economic pressures that threaten their survival and the livelihoods of thousands of Nigerians.
He stated that after the Covid-19 pandemic, most bakery owners found it extremely difficult to stay in business. “The finances are stifling us; interest rates are astronomical. You can’t go to the bank and get a single-digit loan. All their loans are above 30 per cent. How does any business survive with that?” he asked.
According to the PBAN President, the breadmaking industry has suffered massive contraction since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Out of over 140,000 bakeries operating before 2020, he said, less than 60,000 remain functional today. “This is not just a baker’s problem. The mortality rate cuts across all manufacturing concerns in Nigeria. The cost of doing business has become unbearable”, Emmanuel said.
The PBAN leader highlighted Nigeria’s overwhelming dependence on imported raw materials as a major setback to sustainable bread production.
“98% of the wheat we use in Nigeria is imported. We require about 5.1 million metric tons annually, but Nigeria produces only around 300,000 metric tons. So where is backward integration? How will Nigerians get jobs?” he queried.
He, however, commended President Bola Tinubu for lifting the 15% wheat import duty and Value Added Tax (VAT) on wheat and grains — a decision he said came after consistent advocacy from PBAN and other stakeholders.
“That intervention helped stabilize bread prices. Before then, we were changing prices almost four times in a month just to stay afloat. Many of us had to lay-off workers to remain in business”, he added.
Emmanuel identified Nigeria’s energy crisis and insecurity as twin challenges choking productivity in the baking sector.
He also lamented that insecurity in the northern region — Nigeria’s agricultural heartland — has crippled local wheat production efforts. “Farmers can’t go to their farms without paying tolls to bandits or terrorists. How can we talk about backward integration when people risk their lives just to plant? The government must fix security because if you fix security, you fix everything,” Emmanuel stated.
He criticized what he described as the government’s obsession with taxation amid economic stagnation.
