Terrorism, poorly regulated economy threat to food security – Expert

A Medical Imaging Scientist, Dr Livinus Abonyi, has identified terrorism and poorly regulated economy as major threats to the realisation of food security in the country.

Abonyi said this on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos as the World Food Day (WFD) is celebrated globally.

NAN reports that the theme of this year’s celebration is, “Water is life, Water is food. Leave no one behind.”

The theme aims to highlight the critical role of water for life and water as the foundation of our food.

Abonyi, a Lecturer at the Lagos State College of Medicine, said that a poorly regulated economy had resulted in ineffective management of the Nigerian financial system.

According to him, this has led to the free fall and near worthless value of the naira and uncontrollable inflation.

He said: “To ensure food security in a vast and endowed country like Nigeria requires addressing two key factors ravaging the system.

“The major factors are terrorism and armed banditry.

“These particular factors are responsible for sacking most farmers from their farmlands, while others were killed and could not tell the story by themselves.

“Another crucial factor is the ineffective management of the Nigerian financial system.

“The cost of transportation is currently a factor in the movement of goods and services in Nigeria.

“It, therefore, implies that movement of farm produce where farmers have weathered the storm to farm, against the threat of terrorists, kidnappers and bandits, has become a debilitating challenge.”

Abonyi said that the high cost of transportation was responsible for the hike in the prices of foodstuff across the country.

Abonyi expressed concern that foreign currency was becoming the preferred and legal tender and means of exchange in Nigeria.

He contended that the solution to the hunger and other challenges in the land depended on the government’s ability to restore security.

According to him, there is no justification for government’s intervention in the form of loan, fertilizer provision or inputs of any kind into agriculture, when security of life and property of those that work on the farms cannot be assured.

“Security has to be ensured for the economy to thrive. Food production is a key component of the economy.

“If Nigeria is to depend more on importation of food products in order to feed the citizens, then, anarchy is considered inevitable,” Abonyi said.

An Agriculturalist, Prof. Tunji Iyiola-Tunji, called for the implementation of all the government’s policies and programmes geared toward achieving food security.

Iyiola-Tunji, a professor of agriculture at the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Service, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, expressed the optimism about food sufficiency in Nigeria by 2024.

He said that this was possible, if the policies on food security were implemented.

According to him, the government is doing a lot toward ensuring food security for the country.

“This includes the declaration of State of Emergency on food security, disbursement of agricultural inputs to farmers, lifting of forex ban on about 42 food commodities, among others.

“The government is doing a lot in the right direction to ensure food security in the country.

“The Ministry of Agriculture, Mining and Infrastructure has been renamed the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

“Lots of agricultural inputs have been distributed to farmers to aid their production.

“All these are clear indications that the government is working toward food security.

“So, I believed that if all these programmes are well implemented, by 2024 going forward, there will be sufficiency of food in Nigeria,” Iyiola-Tunji said.