The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on Wednesday, lamented that severe hunger has now become an unfortunate member of many households in Nigeria despite the nation having the most arable land in Africa.
In a statement marking World Food Day, which raises awareness about the issues of hunger and food insecurity, Obi said the global observance is significant to Nigeria, where food prices are skyrocketing as essential food items are becoming unaffordable to most people.
He noted that food insecurity has severely impacted Nigerian households, with many unable to afford necessities.
According to Obi, food inflation in Nigeria has increased by 37.5 per cent year-on-year as of August 2024, and millions of Nigerians are facing acute food shortages due to security challenges and the removal of fuel subsidies.
He also referenced the recent World Bank report comparing Nigeria’s food crisis to that of war-torn countries like Yemen, as well as the Global Hunger Index, which ranked Nigeria among the 20 most hunger-stricken nations. He added that over 31 million Nigerians are currently short of food, and 15.6 million children are hungry.
Obi warned that if the federal government fails to address the issue, the United Nations predicts that 82 million Nigerians, or about 64 per cent of the population, could go hungry by 2030.
Obi said these reports, sad as they are, only paint a lenient picture of the severity of the food crisis and hunger.
He called for a shift from a consumption-based economy to a production-focused one, saying:
“Over the years, I have maintained that moving the country from consumption to production remains the surest way of combating food insecurity and pulling the nation out of the present food crisis. I have equally stated, unequivocally, that the greatest asset our nation has is the vast uncultivated lands in the North coupled with our huge demographics.”
“Therefore, we must be intentional with our agricultural investments,” he said, calling for increased investment in agriculture, improved security for farmers, and adopting modern farming techniques to tackle the crisis and ensure food security.
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