By NICK DAZANG
Two grim reports, and which should profoundly concern all Nigerians, were issued recently. One, by the United Nations, through its Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall, disclosed that not less than 35 million Nigerians would face food insecurity in this year’s lean season, namely, May to October, and that another three million children are likely to suffer from life-threatening Severe Acute Malnutrition, SAM. The other, issued by the Action Against Hunger’s Country Director, Thierno Samba Diallo, said Nigeria was the country with the highest number of people facing acute food insecurity in the world. He said over 30 million individuals were affected.
Not only do these two separate reports, issued on the same day, coincide and reinforce each other, they listed Nigeria as being in the forefront of squalid countries riven by war such as Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, etc.“The reasons for this impending hunger are not far-fetched. Neither do they require the gift of clairvoyance. For one and a half decades, Nigeria has been fighting against all manner of insurgencies, kidnappings, banditry and terrorism.“In the beginning, the BAY States of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe were the epicenter. Most of the citizens of these embattled states, which are largely farmers, were forced off their lands by the Boko Haram insurgents. Some sought refuge in neighbouring states and countries. The upshot of this massive and unprecedented displacement is that farmlands were left to fallow. Citizens, who used to till the land, pined and idled away at Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camps.
By and by, this insurgency and terrorism spread and afflicted the North-West and North-Central geopolitical zones. Large swathes of farmlands were abandoned. These zones, which used to brim with foodstuffs, arising from bumper harvests, became forlorn and suffered from food insecurity. Apart from scampering from farmlands for fear of abduction or outright death in the hands of bandits and kidnappers, the few who dared had to pay prohibitive taxes imposed and exacted by these mendacious war lords. Unfortunately, those who persevered and kept faith with farming are hardly incentivised by our three tiers of government. Often, fertilizers and seedlings are procured and distributed late into the farming season. They are vended to farmers at exorbitant prices. And at harvest time, the government crashes the prices of foodstuffs through massive importation. The consequence is that farmers suffer financial losses. Rather than stay put, they migrate to other profitable endeavours.
Matters have not been helped by a global funding crisis. This crisis has arisen due to financial cuts in humanitarian programmes. A report, entitled: “Hunger Funding Gap”, records a 65 per cent shortfall in hunger related programmes. The U.S. is reported to have announced an 83 per cent cut to humanitarian programmes. Significant cuts were also carried out by countries such as Germany, France, Belgium, the U.K., Sweden and the Netherlands. As the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Mohamed Malick Fall, has warned, we must not view this huge figure, of those going hungry, merely as a statistic or in cold, antiseptic isolation. We need to worry that those going hungry are humans and are our beloved compatriots.
Most are going to suffer. Some will die. We must also worry that there is a correlation between eating well and being healthy. Health challenges are therefore likely to arise as a consequence of hunger. For children, particularly, it is worse. They need to eat well to survive and to fully develop their cognitive functions. It is these cognitive functions that would ultimately enable them to cope with the vagaries of existence. A situation where at least three million children are likely to suffer from SAM means that right from the beginning, they have been condemned to infant/early mortality. This picture becomes even more dire when you add to it the millions of out-of-school children and millions of urchins already milling the streets.“Much more concerning is that a hungry person is impervious to any reasoned conversation.
A hungry person, the time-honoured saying goes, is an angry person. Such anger, left unattended to, has consequences for societal health and the prospect of delivering good governance. Viewed against this bleak backdrop, we must take this impending hunger for the clear and present danger it constitutes to the Nigerian State. We must also take practical steps to mitigate, if not avert, it.“One of the ways is to be unrelenting, and to stay laser-focused and co-ordinated on the war on terror. We must continue to prioritise security. It is when the farms are secure that Nigerians can return to them and cultivate them. And it is when they cultivate these farms that we can have foodstuffs in sufficient, if not abundant, quantities.“Second, fertilizers, seedlings and feeds should be subsidised as it is done in other climes. This will make food not only available but affordable to ordinary folks. They should also be made available at the right and appropriate time. Rather than import, government should buy off foodstuffs, in the event of a glut, from farmers and at reasonable and profitable prices. This will encourage the farmers. It will also engage millions of Nigerians meaningfully and take them away from crime.“Government should invest in agriculture with a view to making it mechanised, data- and technology- driven. Our research institutes should be encouraged to develop improved seedlings and feeds. Such seedlings and feeds should withstand the changes and vicissitudes of the climate.
We should aggressively invest in digitisation and expansion of internet access. The internet should reach our rural areas where most of our farmers reside. It should do so in a muscular and affordable fashion. A situation where rural areas enjoy a mere 23 per cent access to the internet while urban areas enjoy 57 per cent access should be redressed. One appreciates that most of the proceeds of the removal of subsidy on oil that accrues to the Federal Government goes to servicing our huge debt.
This debt, as at June 2025, stood at $99.66 billion or N152.39billion. But the sub-nationals, namely the States and Local Governments, are having a field day. They are making a financial killing from the removal of oil subsidy. They should invest their largesse in infrastructure and social amenities. Roads and schools will facilitate the transportation of foodstuffs from rural to urban areas, while education will turn out a corps of enlightened and savvy citizens who can leverage modern agricultural trends and technology via the internet. A stitch in time saves nine.
•Dazang, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Abuja
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