“ADDRESS DEVASTATING HUNGER IN NIGERIA BEFORE IT SPARKS AN IMPLOSION ”. BEING
THE TEXT OF A PRESS STATEMENT BY CONVENER OF THE INITIATIVE FOR BETTER AND BRIGHTER NIGERIA (IBBN) PROPHET DR. ISA EL-BUBA ON THE 8TH FEBRUARY, 2024.
Certainly Nigeria has been over due for a revolution that for some reasons have not happened but will have to happen.
However with the increasing spate of devastating hunger and excruciating poverty taking a toll on Nigerians, if left unaddressed will give rise to an inescapable full blown revolt by the suffering masses – and this revolution will be so swift that it may not be televised. Why? A hungry man is an angry man- and his angst can snowball to have severe consequences if not checkmated. This partially explains why the average Nigerian is angry and aggressive on the street. For instance, it was in the papers last week that a woman in Port Harcourt who went into another woman’s plantation and stole her plantain in order to feed her hungry children was confronted by the woman who owned the plantain, an altercation ensued between them and the woman who stole the plantain hacked to death the woman who owned the plantation with a machete. This is the sad place we are in, in Nigeria today!
Despite government’s ‘state of emergency on food security’, efforts to curb rising food prices have not yielded results- with a foreign exchange rate that is rapidly turning the naira into a currency not worth the paper on which it is printed, pervasive inflation causing a month by month increase on food prices, neither have government stopped terrorists from chasing farmers away from their farmlands nor has it forestalled attacks and kidnaps for ransom on communities in states like Plateau and Taraba who produce a bulk of Nigeria’s food thereby stopping agricultural activities owing to the massive displacement and movement of people from farming zones to IDP camps in their country. Every other part of the country is feeling this pinch of hunger and hardship due to the recent high cost of energy and its impact on transportation which all leads to an astronomical rise in the price of food items- leading to gnashing of teeth everywhere.
We however, refuse to be hopeless about the situation or government. To help alleviate the severity of hunger in Nigeria in the interim and immediate future – so as to both avert an imminent implosion as well as save the future of millions of Nigerians and the stability of the country,
- Government should release grains from its strategic reserve depots, and ensure the grains get to hungry Nigerians at affordable prices, as it crashes the astronomic costs of grains in the market. Previous releases have not been reaching majority of poor Nigerians.
- A cue should be taken from China- whom the World Economic Forum reported to have focused on supporting its 250 million smallholder farmers that produce 80 percent of the country’s food by harnessing government and private sector collaboration, and anchored on technology deployment and access to low interest credit- by also, robustly engaging and partnering with strategic and relevant public, private and third sectors by government at all levels for their resources, expertise, and networks to be utilized in transparently implementing hunger alleviation measures such as distribution of released grains from strategic food reserves as well as genuine commodity market boards to monitor and control these food prices, provision of emergency food assistance to persons adversely affected by or at risk of hunger, and of course, direct cash transfers to low-income families in severe need- as sustainable solutions always require collaboration, resources, and long-term commitment from multiple stakeholders. This is worth it because it becomes a great deal and major accomplishment if tackling hunger or food poverty can turn out to be one of the greatest benefits of our democracy today.
- State governments are called upon to refrain from the indolence of relying on the Federal government for hunger and poverty alleviation programmes to developing and championing their own local initiatives for same purpose. Again, as can be seen from Brazil in this regard, Brazil adopted national, state-wide, and local policies, including the Zero Hunger programme introduced in the first presidency of Inacio Lula da Silva within 2003 to 2010 which according to the FAO reduced the proportion of Brazilians living in hunger by one-third. Speaking of this, the Governor of Taraba State Dr. Kefas Agbu is setting a pace that is worthy of commendation and emulation in that He is developing a palliative market in his state where food and non-food items will be sold at cheaper rates to residents intentioned at bringing relief to families from the hardship caused by petrol subsidy removal. Nigerian governors should please develop their own marshal plans that align to their local realities to bring relief to their people as state governments ought to be the main drivers of agricultural production and initiatives only to be complimented by federal support.
- Government should invest in building rural road systems that links farms to local markets in real time, as well as storage and processing facilities to drastically reduce the post-harvest rot and waste of agricultural produce before they get to consumers, so farmers won’t have to make up for loses.
- Long term planning and investments as well as training, mentoring youths, women, and rural farmers to engage in mechanized agriculture and modern farming techniques so they are able to take up farming careers which can boost food production and reduce poverty in the country.
- Again, the Tinubu Administration is been called upon to tackle insecurity in real time in Nigeria by consistently deploying leadership- which is what others may call political will. By the way, there’s no such thing as political will- it’s either there is leadership or there is no leadership. The President showing leadership in containing insecurity can have a ripple down effect on all security sector actors as they work together to fight terrorism, insecurity and other forms of criminality in the country copying the posture of their Commander-in-Chief. For instance, if insecurity is curtailed in food producing zones that have been under siege like Mangu and Bokkos to mention but one, it is sure to have an impact on the cost of food in the markets. Again, if government insists that armed militias killing Nigerians in the North-Central and elsewhere in Nigeria like they did on Christmas Eve on the Plateau are arrested and prosecuted- which has so far not been seen, or it (Government) decrees death by hanging for all kidnappers caught- it can send shivers to perpetrators of these criminalities and serve as a deterrent.
- Resettlement and restoration of farming villages in especially Plateau and Benue States to their ancestral farming villages who have been initially displaced by Fulani militias with a 20 billion Naira grant – so they can go back and pick up their farming lives and contribute to food security efforts in the country.
May we use the opportunity to call the attention and intervention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the return of astronomical prices of cement in the market which is now at 7000 per bag- as this high price also has its pinch of salt in the rising price of food.
Finally, given the precarious situation we’ve found our selves today, I call on all Nigerians to get back to farming in other to collectively contribute to our sufficient food production and self sustenance- growing what we eat and eating what we grow.
Thank you very much and may God save Nigeria from an impending implosion.
Oracle Reporters 