Nigeria, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu will consider importation of food, if the escalating hunger in the country persists. That was a report in a national newspaper last week. Couched differently, without dressing it in officialese, the information in that report, is that Nigeria will, sooner than later, resort to importation of food to meet its primary needs at home. The message is simple and clear. The aspect about “if hunger persists” is, at best a trip to sophistry. Or is there any indication on the horizon that the ravaging hunger in the country will abate? From what remedial policies?
Except, perhaps, from the religious perspective of the likes of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, of the Redeemed Christian Church, who believe and preach that through prayers, the Naira will gain value on the global exchange rate market, it is extremely difficult to see how hunger will not persist in Nigeria, the ways things are going.
Pervasive hunger, as a general problem in a society, stems, as is well known, from scarcity of food or lack of capacity to meet exorbitant prices of food items in the face of shortage in supply. Shortage in food supply, of course, arises in a situation of extremely poor agricultural yield, or no production at all. Against the backdrop of the reality of Nigeria at the moment, it seems very unrealistic, if not wilfully deceptive, to speak of “if hunger persists”. Beside any prospect of divine intervention, which in this instance, is neither here, nor there, hunger will surely, persist in Nigeria.
If the very root of the problem stymying food production remains unattended to, as is the case, presently, the question of hunger persisting and escalating, is not a matter of if. The crisis is given. It can only get worse. That will be a shame and a huge indictment on the leadership of the country, should Nigeria retreat to importation of food.
A country as endowed as Nigeria, with vast land mass, a substantial part of which is arable all year round, should have no issue with feeding itself. Indeed, in spite of its low level of mechanized agriculture and the poverty of its preservation technology, food production had not been a major problem for the country. Nigeria is still ranked as the world’s largest producer of yam tubers, accounting for up to 75 percent of world yam supply. It is the largest producer of cassava in the world, as well as the largest producer of rice in Africa and the seventh largest producer of Irish potato in Africa. As a matter of fact, Plateau State alone, meets most of the Irish potato need of the country. Perhaps, not any more. As it is with tubers and grains, so it is with vegetables. Nigeria should have no problem meeting its food needs.
All those statistics, may however be on their way to alteration, negatively. The paradise is steadily being lost, due, substantially, to a cocktail of factors; poverty of political leadership, enthronement of a rogue culture that, not only condones, but promotes criminality in the management of the commons and worse now, a rather pernicious and uncommon wave of primitive nationalism that counters the very spirit that sustains any viable modern state.
The danger now, is not only that hunger will likely persist and escalate in Nigeria. The major concern is that the country is increasingly becoming incapable of defending itself and its rightful citizens, not only in terms of food security, but in every aspect of existence. Meanwhile, governments are supposed to be in place. The phrase rightful citizens, as used above is deliberate. It is reference to the present reality of Nigeria, where there is hardly a clear identification of who an authentic Nigerian is.
As a matter of fact, invaders from the Sahel especially, have become the scourge of the indigenous people and rightful citizens. The invaders seem determined to deploy the doctrine of starvation as a legitimate instrument of war, against Nigeria and its people. There are, indeed, many questions that the All Progressives Congress [APC] will still answer before Nigerians.
The directive last week by President Tinubu for 102,000 tonnes of rice, maize, millet and garri to be released into the society, from the national food reserve, is instructive. The directive which came as a response to the rising discontent across the country, over cost of living and food scarcity, speak volumes of the crisis at the door. The release from the strategic national reserve is only a palliative. The question that follows is, what next?
Among its various other uncomplimentary profiles, Nigeria seems to have also become a country of palliatives. Unfortunately, palliatives are designed to offer immediate relief. After that comes the challenge. By the way, talking of unflattering profile, after South Africa was beaten by Nigeria during the just ended African soccer champion in Cote D’Ivoire, some South Africans were so riled that they derided Nigeria as a generator republic. The validity of that barb is a matter for another day. Pardon the digression.
There is no doubt that the Tinubu government knew that releasing food from the national food reserve is only a palliative. That knowledge and concern for what comes next must have informed the subtle notice that the government may turn to food importation “if food crisis persists”. Even at that, importation of food cannot be a long-term engagement too, not for a country as endowed as Nigeria.
Nigeria’s present food crisis is not, by any means, a short-term problem. It is a national crisis that has been evolving over the last decade, the primary source of which is well known. Persistent single-minded attack on farmers in the northern agricultural belt of the country by terrorists is an assault on the foundation of the country that was bound to create food crisis. Alarmingly, recent leaderships of the country seem, either complicit, or too weak and compromised to tackle the existential threat. How far can ad hoc measures go to address a problem of such magnitude?
While receiving a delegation that visited him at the presidential villa last week, Tinubu waxed lyrical on how his government intends to buy tractors, mechanize agriculture and increase food production. His words were at once baffling and dismissible. Could it be that he did not know what the real problem militating against food production is, in the Nigeria of his time? Or was he playing to the gallery?
Nigeria has been under attack by forces that are not hidden. Foreign terrorists have been killing Nigerians, sacking farmers from their farms, effectively cutting off food production, imposing insecurity across the land and steadily undermining every fabric that makes a country virile. The food belt of the country has become fallow zone, with terrorists mortally insisting that farmers will not produce food anymore for the country. That, by every measure, is a declaration of war. This is the problem behind the escalating food crisis and poverty in Nigeria. Does those who run the government not know this? What is all this hiding behind the fingers all about? When will the APC government rise to resolutely defend Nigeria? Or there something they are not telling the rest of the citizens?