Opinion

There’s food crises in the country

 

By Abba Dukawa

In spite of  series of federal and state governments’ poverty
alleviating intervention programs aimed at tackling hunger in the
land, many Nigerians can still hardly get food to eat, let alone meet
the human-designed three meals per day.
According to the report 2019  by Global Hunger Index,  Nigeria has a
serious hunger problem and ranks 93rd out of 117 qualifying countries.
With a score of 27.9, in recent time Nigeria suffers from a level of
hunger that is serious.Nigeria is one of many food-deficient countries
in Africa, and its alarming hunger statistics.
Let truth be told there is massive hunger in the land, which clearly
flies in the face of claims by the Minister of Agriculture, Sabo
Nanono, to the contrary. I am sure he either does not know the true
hunger situation before ordinary Nigerians or just saying it to please
his Oga’s administration.
It’s apt to quote him “When people talk about hunger I laugh because
they do not know hunger. If you go to other countries you will see
what hunger is. Food in Nigeria is fairly cheap compared to other
countries. In Kano, for instance, you can eat N30 worth of food and be
satisfied. So, we should be thankful that we can feed ourselves and we
have relatively cheap food in this country,”
Since Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development has admitted
inconveniences it is left for the  Federal Government to find some
means of palliatives to cushion the effects of high cost of food
price.
Let truth be told, the  costs of goods are now too high in Nigeria.
The closure of borders at this austere period is so excruciating
especially to the poor masses. Our local production has not reached
the level being envisaged by next level government policy.  The levels
of hunger in Nigeria are alarming but always  government officials not
seeing the light or intentionally distorts the reality either on self
survival or just to be sweet-mouths   to the number one but in simple
term deceiving  number one.But I will not blame him because many of
officials  do not know where the shoe pinches the common man since
they live in comfort zone.
The Federal Government should find some means of palliatives to
cushion the effects. Though it is what we buy that we sell,
reasonably, things are hard these days.  From Bayelsa down to Adamawa
the story is the same. There is massive hunger in the land, from Lagos
to Kano because of higher population it has become difficult if not
impossible for  residents to afford cost of food price  as many go to
bed on empty stomachs due to  paucity of funds.
Let truth be told, the closure of borders has its positive and
negative effects. If Nigeria must grow, we have to strive to attain
economic independence. Rome was not built in a day. We need to endure
a bit, though the cost of goods is now getting very high. The Federal
Government should find some means of palliatives to cushion the
effects. The country is going down very fast and the Federal
Government should take immediate action.
A plate of rice sold for N100 is not enough for an adult to eat. And
we all know that food is very important, and the basic need of an
average man is to satisfy his stomach first before any other thing is
considered.  What we are experiencing is hunger because cost of
foodstuff has skyrocketed. Even the local foods are not cheap anymore
as  there are many people out there who can’t afford standard
three-square meal. Since Nigeria’s inflation rate doubled, the country
has experienced a recession.
Food is not cheap in Nigeria just two months ago a imported Thailand
or Indian rice were sold at 14,000 now hoovering around N26,000 per
bag even local bags of rice processed in the country is around N17,000
per bag.
*Dukawa can be reach on [email protected]

Show More

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button