The Inner Monologue

There are ideas that belong to history, and there are ideas that belong to the future. The Nigeria Food Resilience Compact should belong to the future. It does not exist—yet—but it should. Because the status quo is failing millions, and the world desperately needs a new framework for cooperation: one that treats developing nations as partners, not projects.

Nigeria—Africa’s most populous democracy, one of its largest economies, and a cultural powerhouse—stands on the front line of a worsening food crisis. The combination of inflation, insecurity, and global market shocks has left tens of millions at risk of hunger. And yet, Nigeria also stands atop some of the most fertile land in the world, with the capacity not just to feed itself, but to export food security across the continent.

What is missing is not potential, but partnership. The kind of partnership that must be built deliberately, equitably, and urgently.

Why We Need to Build It

We should build a Food Resilience Compact because the old development playbook is broken.
For decades, international donors delivered assistance through short-term projects, pilot programs, and technocratic reforms that rarely outlived their funding cycles. They came with conditions, consultants, and complexity—too often disconnected from the political and economic realities on the ground.

Nigeria deserves something different. A partnership that begins with trust, not conditionality. A structure that combines Nigeria’s strengths—land, labor, and legitimacy—with the world’s capital, technology, and climate finance.

The compact we should build is not a charity program. It is an investment vehicle for stability, growth, and dignity.

What the Compact Should Be

The Nigeria Food Resilience Compact should be designed as a joint initiative between Nigeria and the top global economies—anchored in equality and transparency. It should look less like foreign aid, and more like a sovereign partnership fund.

Here is what it should include:

A National Food Resilience Fund, headquartered in Abuja and controlled by Nigeria, with international partners contributing according to their economic capacity.

A transparent governance board, co-chaired by Nigeria and rotating donor representatives, ensuring accountability without interference.

Digital transparency tools, so every naira and dollar can be tracked publicly by citizens.

Food Resilience Hubs in every state—combining storage, logistics, training, and youth employment under one roof.

A seven-year funding structure that begins donor-heavy and transitions toward Nigerian self-financing through export revenues and agricultural taxation.

This is not a dream; it’s a blueprint waiting to be drawn.

How the World Should Participate

The top five economies—United States, China, Germany, Japan, and India—should treat this compact as a collective global insurance policy. Food insecurity in Nigeria is not a local crisis; it’s a global risk multiplier. When hunger drives migration, instability, and economic decline, the ripple effects reach every shore.

Each nation could contribute according to GDP share—roughly $6.4 billion from the U.S., $4 billion from China, and smaller, proportional sums from the rest. In total, a $13 billion annual commitment would stabilize the largest population in Africa and secure a cornerstone of regional peace.

For less than a fraction of a percent of their annual budgets, these nations could help build a system that prevents famine, strengthens markets, and expands trade. That is not foreign aid—it’s global foresight.

How Nigeria Should Lead

Nigeria, for its part, should contribute what only it can: vision, coordination, and political legitimacy. It should pledge land access for agricultural expansion, streamline customs for export corridors, and guarantee a regulatory environment that welcomes private participation.

The federal government should frame the compact not as an external arrangement, but as part of its own Made in Nigeria Prosperity 2030 agenda. Governors should compete to host Food Resilience Hubs, not resist them. Universities and technical colleges should partner in training the next generation of agricultural technicians and managers.

This must not be a donor project in Nigerian soil. It must be a Nigerian project with global partners in attendance.

Why This Matters Now

We should build this compact because the alternative—piecemeal programs and endless relief cycles—has already proven inadequate. Without systemic intervention, Nigeria could face a decade of worsening food shortages, rising prices, and social unrest.

But with the compact, Nigeria could become the anchor of a new regional food economy. It could feed not only itself, but its neighbors; it could export not just produce, but stability. It could replace dependency with dignity and scarcity with sovereignty.

This is the development model the 21st century demands—one that transcends the outdated divide between donor and recipient, between the Global North and Global South.

The Compact We Should Build

The Nigeria Food Resilience Compact does not yet exist. But it should.

It should be negotiated, signed, and implemented with urgency. It should be backed by global capital and national pride. It should be the template for a new kind of global cooperation—one where development is shared, success is mutual, and dignity is built into every line item.

The choice is not whether Nigeria can do this—it can. The choice is whether the world will finally treat partnership as a shared responsibility rather than an act of generosity.

If we build this compact, Nigeria could become the proof that global collaboration still works.
If we don’t, we’ll watch another opportunity—another generation—slip away.

It’s time to build the future we keep describing.
It’s time to build The Compact of Hope.