Nigeria’s Middle Belt and northwestern states have for years been caught in violence between normadic herdsman and farmers as climate change intensifies rivalries over water and land.
But that violence has spiralled into security crisis tit-for-tat attacks and expanded into widespread kidnapping, cattle theft and criminal banditary. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP)
According to the Inspire World International Foundation, many Nigerians are experiencing inequitable access to food, leading to undernourishment, stunting and wasting, especially in children.
Poverty, it stressed, exacerbated by gross unemployment and the inability of a majority of people to feed themselves and their families, are some of the main culprits of the hunger issues in the country.
It noted that with the increasing hike in food prices and the stagnant income of the average Nigerian, it has become difficult for families to feed, insisting that many widows with four to five children are burdened with the responsibility of providing for their children.
Sequel to this, the Foundation launched the Zero Project: Towards Achieving No Poverty and Zero Hunger in Nigeria to address hunger issues and the effect of poverty.
The project addresses poverty and hunger in Nigeria, which happens to be the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2.
Sharing the project’s vision, the foundation’s co-founder, Chris Chukwunyere, said, “We are glad to be addressing poverty and hunger issues in Nigeria. We are implementing this project using four strategic approaches – Soup kitchen, food bank, farming and economic empowerment programme.
He noted that the soup kitchen provides nutritious meals for individuals and their families to walk in and eat for free.
“Our soup kitchen is like a restaurant where anyone can walk in and eat at least one healthy meal a day. Part of our community outreaches will also involve going to primary schools to provide nutrient-rich meals to pupils. This outreach is particularly important for children’s growth, brain development, and concentration in the classroom, which aids effective learning,” he said.
The food bank is in response to its resolve to improve food security and address under nutrition in Nigeria. “During the food distribution activity, we will also train women who have children under the age of five years, on how to use locally produced grains and accessible proteins to make highly nutritious food supplements for their children.”
On farming, which is one of its sustainability approaches, it ensures food is available all year round for their target population. “We plant and harvest food crops to be used at the soup kitchens and stored at our food bank. This approach will also involve empowering farmers in rural communities with funding, healthy seeds, agricultural and business expertise to help them build capacity to feed their families and make profit from farming. At the same time, they contribute to the project’s food supply chain by ensuring healthy foods can be locally sourced and procured for our Soup Kitchen and Food Bank.”
He continued: “Addressing poverty is a more permanent way of solving hunger in Nigeria. When households are empowered with the proper knowledge, skills and resources to set up, and earn for themselves, they will have the capacity to deal with hunger permanently.
“These skills acquisition programmes would empower people with the ability to be employable or set up businesses. Through this programme, we will transit the households we feed from dependence to independence. This way, we can accommodate more people experiencing hunger and transit them through the economic empowerment programmes.
“Achieving these and ultimately helping to reduce hunger and poverty in Nigeria, require partnership and collaboration from individuals, organisations and the government. More partnerships mean more people across Nigeria will benefit from such initiatives.”
Chris-Chukwunyere also stated that the foundation is open to partnerships, “the more resources we get, the more people we can serve. Partnerships, in this sense, involve collaborations, donations, and volunteerism. Food security is something we must all work together to improve in Nigeria.
“We can also, through economic empowerment, tackle unemployment and poverty in the country. Zero hunger and poverty are two sustainable development goals that are of global concern. These can only be achieved by 2030 through partnerships.”
