Sir: In the case of Nigeria, there is no denying the fact that, there is famine, food scarcity, hunger and suffering in the land. This is a result of many factors combined, including attacks by armed Fulani herders on Nigerian farmers and their communities, loss of youth energy in agricultural production, the heavy immigration of people, particularly the youth of between the ages of 18 and 50 to the cities, and even the hard clinging of retirees to the cities, people who are still energetic enough to help out in food production.
It is a common experience by Nigerians that food is very costly in the country, even in the so-called rural areas. There is no food item whose price has not gone astronomically high, and almost everybody is complaining about it.
Though many Nigerians are ready to accept the fact of food insecurity and scarcity in Nigeria, not many of them want to do anything about it, with everybody, especially those that are still full of youth energy, shunning farming because they think it is a dirty job, and the type that cannot yield immediate money to those who engage in it.
You look around you realise that every young person is doing POS business. The criminal-minded engage in kidnapping, armed robbery, terrorism of all hue, petty trading, just anything short of farming, which of course, they do not know gives a lot of money in the long run. Anybody who doubts this should ask retired Generals and some government officials why they go into farming after retirement.
But the one that takes the greatest prize in this day and age in Nigeria is Fulani terrorism. Whether it is in Kaduna, Enugu, Plateau, Benue, Nassarawa, Taraba, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo, Delta, Imo, or Anambra states, these alien Fulani terrorists who the Nigerian government allows free hand to be carrying war-grade weapons, RPGs, AK-47s and 49s among others, go about killing Nigerians everyday without any form of repercussion on them.
It is as if they were ordered by God Almighty Himself to be killing other people as of right. The killing has led to displacement of a lot of people from their ancestral homes and scares those still living in the villages from going to the farm to produce food. Yet, the government of Nigeria does not as much as necessary raise a finger of reproach, does not empower the army and the security operatives to rout those aliens out because of the fear of the ‘cousins’ in Nigeria.
It is such a pity that, the government of and in Nigeria will leave its responsibilities to Nigerians while it either junkets all over the world, talking about an election that is to come in another two years even when it has not done anything to justify being in office even for a day.
Victor Mba Agbai is a journalist based in Abuja.
