Economic hardship: Concerns continue to grow despite governments’ interventions

IBRAHIM QUADRI

As hunger bites harder in the country as a result of high inflation rate, the Federal Government has concluded plans to release at least 42,000 metric tonnes of assorted grains to Nigerians to ameliorate the suffering.

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, announced the decision of the government at the maiden edition of ministerial press conference in Abuja, saying that the administration of President Bola Tinubu was concerned about the high food prices in the country.

The minister, who was flanked by his Information counterpart, Mohammed Idris, said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is deeply concerned about rising food prices and was determined to make essential food readily available to Nigerians at affordable prices.

He announced modalities for the grains to be released to needy Nigerians from different locations in the country were being worked out with the Department of State Security Services and the National Emergency Management Agency so as to make the process seamless and successful.

Beyond distributing grains to Nigerians to stem the rising wave of hunger in the land, Kyari said that the ministry had also adopted various measures to produce more food so that the country would no longer experience food shortage and high prices.

Among the new strategies being adopted by the federal government is the plan to involve governors of the 36 states in identifying real farmers who would be benefitting directly from some interventions to enable them to produce more food.

The minister said the involvement of the governor was necessitated by the discovery of those he described as ‘political farmers’ in the farmers’ database being kept by the ministry, a development he said was unhelpful in the food production value chain.

Kyari said that in a bid to also made food readily available to Nigerians a total of 120,000 hectares of land is to be cultivated with wheat while 150,000 farmers are expected to cultivate rice in many parts of the country within the year.

In line with the promise, yhe President met with 36 state governors, attended by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, the National Security Adviser, the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the DSS, and some ministers at the State House in Abuja on Thursday.

President Bola Tinubu said his administration is evolving home-grown solutions to address the nation’s food security challenges by setting up schemes to support local production and discourage all forms of rent-seeking that are associated with food importation.

On his part, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin, has hailed President for ordering  release of 102,000 tonnes of rice, maize, millet and others to address the high cost of food in the country.

The Federal Government had through the Special Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention, headed by the Chief of Staff, Rt. Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, ordered the release of 102,000 tonnes of grains to Nigerians.

Hailing President Tinubu for the directive, the Deputy President of the Senate, said the move would go a long way in cushioning the effects of the rising cost of commodities in the country.

Senator Barau, in a statement by his special Advised on media,  Ismail Mudashir, urged states and local governments to emulate the federal government by releasing grains to the needy in the country.

Personally, Senator Barau said in the coming days he would distribute rice to 200,000 households as part of his contributions to address the challenge.

As part of the interventions, Lagos State Governor,  Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu doled out N750million to 15,000 traders to cushion effects of hardship noted, “I urge you to let the citizens of Lagos feel the impact of this grant and all the other support that this administration has been providing towards ensuring food security, through reasonable reduction in the cost of basic food items in a way that it will be affordable to ordinary Lagosians,” he said.

Governor Sanwo-Olu said the initiative was conceptualized as a stop-gap measure of the Lagos State Government to empower small-scale traders in the Food Systems by providing them financial support to expand their businesses thereby fostering economic growth and improving the lives of many within the State.

He said: “This will ensure sustainable livelihoods and facilitate business expansion for 15,000 traders who occupy a strategic position in the State’s economic pyramid and food distribution network.

Giving his own perceptive, a former spokesman to the People’s Democratic Party, PDP presidential candidate in 2023, Daniel Bwala argued, “Food inflation is global. This small bottle of palm oil is sold for £20 pound sterling, I.e 38k naira. Hair cut na 45k for london. The good news is that it is projected that global food inflation will drop by the end of this year. So cheer up my people.

“For those Naija people in the US and UK cursing @officialABAT on social media, what they are not telling you is that in the UK they can’t wait to chase Rishi Sunak and in the US, you already know what’s up with Joe Biden.

“There is no perfect president or perfect democracy, let nobody fool you. forget the noise, your presidential candidate could have done worse

“President Tinubu is working hard to find solutions to our problems created over decades of mal-administration

“Let us have faith in our country and our leaders and offer solutions rather than insults. “

Despite all these interventions and similar others, Sultan of Sokoto  and  Chairman of the Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has raised the alarm, warning that Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gunpowder.

Speaking at the 6th Executive Committee Meeting of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council in Kaduna on February 14, the Sultan identified such challenges as unemployment and hunger affecting millions of Nigerian youths as creating a volatile situation in the land.

Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, who corroborated the Sultan’s concerns at the meeting themed “Enhanced Security as a Panacea for Stability and Development of the North,” emphasized that the North has now become the epicentre of terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping. “Lives have been lost, and the local economy has suffered significant setbacks”, he lamented.

The Sultan who was flanked by the Emir of Kano and the Emir of Katsina, expressed deep concern over the deteriorating conditions in Nigeria, particularly in the northern region.

He highlighted insecurity and poverty as the twin challenges confronting the people.

He said: “We have reached a level where people are deeply frustrated, hungry, and resentful. Insecurity and poverty are the two major issues causing trouble for the people of the North,” he declared.

While advocating the urgent need for solutions, the Sultan urged traditional leaders to collaborate with political leaders and security agencies.

He stressed the importance of addressing challenges in education, healthcare, agriculture, poverty, and unemployment.

Similarly, Governor Sani, represented by his Deputy, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, acknowledged the gravity of the situation, calling for strong partnerships among Northern states to tackle insecurity and address developmental issues.

In a similar vein, a human rights group has appealed to President Tinubu and members of the National Assembly to find ways of solving the current economic crisis in the country.

The group, Save the Poor and Needy Charity Initiative, SPANCI advised the president to find ways of bringing succour to reduce the hardship caused by hyper inflation, insecurity and scarcity of essential goods across the country.

The Civil Society Group made the appeal in an open letter signed by its President, Yemi Ezekiel Bello and addressed to Tinubu and the National Assembly.

Bello, in the letter made available to Newspot, on Tuesday, appealed to Tinubu, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abass, to immediately intervene and act before people begin to die on the streets.

The SPANCI scribe lamented that the cost and prices of consumables and commodities in the market have gone up beyond reason, warning that this has brought life-threatening hardship to the people.