Over 15,000 children and their parents were on ground at Islamic High School Ibadan, Oyo State capital, on Wednesday December 18, to receive the 5,000 naira cash gifts, each for 5,000 children, as part of this year’s Christmas celebrations. The event was packaged by a group, Women in Need of Governance and Support (WINGS) powered by the ex-wife of Ooni of Ife, Prophetess Naomi Silekunola. The programme was given wide publicity by Agidigbo FM, a radio station based in Ibadan. The arrangement was to serve meals to children first and then, allow them to catch some fun together before handing out the cash gifts. Unexpectedly, the venue was jampacked by 5 am, ahead of 10 am scheduled time. Naomi had reportedly done this good gesture for years. Even the announcements to dissuade more people from coming fell on deaf ears. By the time the gate of the school was thrown open, desperation to rush in led to a stampede and 35 persons, mainly children, lost their lives, besides those who sustained varying levels of injuries.
Similarly, the stampede at Okija, Anambra State palliatives distribution was not anticipated as the event had been in place in the last 14 years without hassles. Thus, announcements were made in all the 30 villages in Okija that there were enough food items for all and sundry. The event was scheduled for 9am on Saturday December 21, but people started trooping in to Obijackson Foundation headquarters from 12 midnight and by 4 am, the vicinity had turned to a Mecca of sorts. The crowd surged into the premises when one of the gates that was opened to allow vehicles conveying chairs into the compound, broke down. Again, it was desperation that brought about the death of 22 persons in the ensuing stampede.
It was also learnt that the stampede at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Maitama, Abuja, happened because there was a crowd surge at one of the gates as many people refused to queue for distribution. Thousands of people from Mpappe, Gishiri and surrounding settlements had gathered as early as 4 am on December 21, to partake in the food-sharing event organized by St. Vincent de Paul Society, a global lay movement known for demonstrating God’s love to the poor. The group, has for years, been giving direct and tangible relief to the vulnerable and the abandoned. Unfortunately, 10 lives were lost at the event which was meant to share the joy of Christ’s birth. Cumulatively, no less than 67 persons died because of the three stampedes.
There are four major observations from the tragedy. One, none of the organizers expected the number of persons that turned out. Two, they had successfully carried out the humanitarian gestures for years without crowd control measures. Three, the desperation to get the palliatives at all costs caused the stampede. Four, hunger and deprivations pulled the trigger of scuffling through the surging crowd.
Relatedly, the vocal northern lawmaker, Senator Ali Ndume, while circulating the mile-long queues outside President Tinubu’s private residence in Ikoyi, Lagos, during Christmas, stated that, “Queues for presidential handouts at Bourdilion on Christmas Eve highlight a sobering reality. Poverty knows no tribe, religion, politics, or religion. It is a universal challenge that demands collective action and sustainable solutions.” On his part, the Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah, described the Christmas eve stampedes as avoidable tragedies and blamed it on the failures of government to curb the crisis of hunger in the country.
Pushing the blames to the facilitators and indigent citizens who came for the palliatives, President Tinubu acknowledged that even though that there is hunger in the land, poor management on the part of the organizers and indiscipline by the would-be recipients led to the tragedies that scandalized the whole humanitarian gestures. Giving himself as an example, he quipped thus: “I have been giving out foodstuffs, commodities, including envelopes at Bourdilion (street) for the past 25 years. I have never experienced this kind of incident because we are organized, cultured, disciplined. And if you know you don’t have enough to give, don’t attempt to even give or publicize it.” The salient point, however, is that from video evidence, the number of persons at his Lagos residence for handouts this year was unprecedented.
These speak to the huge problem in our hands. More people are going to bed hungry! Nigeria is grappling with a worst form of cost-of-living crisis. Earlier in the year, it was reported that over 100 million people are multi-dimensionally poor. What are the policy projections to at least halve this menace? Few days ago, a World Bank Report released on December 27 indicates than more than 50% or 129 million Nigerians live in poverty. The Report states that “Poverty is high and rising in Nigeria.” Although giving of handouts to cushion people’s difficulties is commendable, it cannot in anyway address the root causes of poverty. And from the foregoing, what is seen is a true reflection of the consistent character of Nigerian state: Blame games. Scapegoating. Buck-passing. Police arrests and intimidation. Politicization of misadventures. No concrete and evidence-based planning to forestall a future occurrence. Unfortunately, the Christmas eve tragedies are symptomatic of how we run everything in Nigeria.
Has the 150-day duty-free import window for food commodities ordered by Mr. president in July 2024 been implemented? Are there short-term and long-term food security plans by the federal and the state governments? It is disheartening to note that the 2025 budget outlays of most states have less tangible sectoral allocations for food security and jobs creation. The federal government, therefore, should as a matter of urgency, convene a national summit on food security in January 2025, and persuade states to undertake virement of their budgets for massive food production and targeted increment in people’s purchasing power. Netherlands, a small-sized country in Europe, is today a global agricultural powerhouse because it learnt from the hunger winter of December 1944. We must plan beyond palliatives economy. Agriculture is Nigeria’s easiest lifeline.