A recent prediction of a debilitating food crisis in Nigeria evokes fears that the worst is yet to come. The frightening scenario is further heightened by earlier forecast of a sharp rise in the number of hungry persons in the country. This portentous development should make President Bola Tinubu to rethink his economic policies before hunger becomes a way of life in the country.
The ‘World Wealth Report’ published in 2019 identified three main reasons for lack of access to food- conflict, climate change and a weak economy. All are present in Nigeria, exacerbated by poor governance.
Five years later, the situation is exacerbated by sudden reforms without due consideration to the wider ramifications of these policy changes on the well-being of over 200 million people. A direct consequence is a food crisis, which is accentuated by insecurity, notably banditry and sundry criminality. It has made farming and other economic activities an unthinkable venture for many.
Ultimately, the Federal Government’s expressed aim to increase the country’s food security index by 2025, for instance, will remain far-fetched. The government’s projection to reduce the prevalence of severe hunger from 19.6 per cent in 2020 to 10 per cent by 2025 will similarly be dead on arrival if security challenges faced by farmers and the productive sector at large are not addressed.
A World Food Programme report said that 15 countries, Nigeria inclusive, were currently afflicted with “very high levels of hunger.” It admonished world leaders to be proactive, as conflict and economic crises could escalate the situation. Sadly, the current administration is not heeding the advice as the country is already enmeshed in a food crisis. Already, food prices have risen sharply, worsened by high electricity and transportation costs.
Among other factors, the FAO identified insecurity, especially insurgency in the North-East states, mostly in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe; banditry and cattle rustling in some North-West states such as Sokoto, Katsina, Zamfara and Kaduna, as well as North- Central states of Benue, Plateau and Niger as key drivers to the upcoming food crisis.
This has dealt a huge blow to the country’s food production capacity. Figures indicated that at least 352 farmers were killed or kidnapped in 12 months amid the rising insecurity. In November 2020, about 76 peasant farmers were gruesomely massacred by Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State. Farmers in Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, and Plateau states have been on the receiving end of a seemingly endless orgy of violence orchestrated by murderous Fulani herders forcibly evicting farmers to make way for their cattle.
The lethargic response of the Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration has ensured that instead of abating, the citizens are being encouraged to be patient but to get accustomed to hunger in the meantime. Efforts should be made to crush insurgents and criminality. Forestation and irrigation schemes should be undertaken by the three tiers of government to reclaim land. The economy has to be revived by vigorous governmental and private initiatives.
Instead of continuing to rely on the grossly inefficient, overwhelmed and over-centralised security architecture, states should be allowed to float security networks to secure their jurisdictions to facilitate farming. Aside from insecurity that scares away farmers, the poor state of infrastructure is a major disincentive to the country’s efforts at ensuring food security.
To be forewarned is to be foretold, hence we urge President Tinubu to stop elevating his economic policies as a necessary evil, when the people are going hungry and not a few reports have been unpretentious about the fact that the worst is yet to happen. He should quit self-glorification and dump his preachments on patience while encouraging the people to endure hardship, but take urgent steps to rein in acute hunger in the land.
