Events that occurred in two Nigerian states last week, caught my attention. One was the award of contract by the Anambra State Government for the construction of an iconic tower at Ekwulobia in Aguata Local Government Area of the State. The tower project awarded to IDC Construction Company will cost the state government N980 million, an amount N20 million shy of one billion naira.
The second was the report on Nasarawa State Government, commencing the harvest of its 10,000-hectare rice farm in Jangwa community, Awe Local Government Area of the State. The Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdulahi Sule, physically flagged-off the commencement of the harvest, targeted at ensuring food security in the state.
Speaking while flagging-off the rice harvest, Governor Sule reiterated the commitment of his government to lead by example in agriculture through government structured initiatives, and thus, contribute to the national food security agenda. He described the milestone as part of Nasarawa State’s broader strategy to enhance food security, which was launched at the beginning of this year’s planting season.
The massive rice harvest in Nasarawa State could not have come at a better time, considering the palpable fear of food insecurity in Nigeria. Just a few days ago, a new report indicated that not less than 30 million Nigerians, including Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), are expected to be food insecure or worse between June and August 2025. As reported by Daily Trust newspaper on November 1, 2024, the food and nutrition report, Cadre Harmonisé (CH), was put together by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security with technical support from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and other partners.
Earlier in September, Bill Gates, American business magnate and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, raised an alarm that Nigeria presently has the second-highest rate of food insecurity in the world, with climate change accelerating the problem. According to the co-founder of Microsoft Company, Nigeria receives the largest share of intervention funds allocated by his foundation to Africa because of food insecurity.
Prior to Bill Gate’s exposé, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) had issued a Policy Brief on the Status of Food Security in the country. The brief was posted on the website of the nation’s foremost private sector think tank by 12:39 pm on March 25, 2024. The document revealed that Nigeria’s food inflation surged from 33.9 percent in December 2023 to 35.41 percent in January 2024.
Quoting from the NESG Brief, “the number of food-insecure Nigerians increased significantly, from 66.2 million in Q1 2023 to 100 million in Q1 2024, with 18.6 million facing acute hunger and 43.7 million Nigerians showing crisis-level or above crisis-level hunger coping strategies as of March 2024. The NESG recommended immediate humanitarian, social protection and food systems responses to address this unprecedented food crisis.”
The Nasarawa rice-farming initiative has not only contributed immensely to the national food agenda, but also created employment for the indigenous people. It is also interesting to note that the initiative is an inclusive one, carrying along both the women and youth, like the Green Revolution in post-Independence India in the 1960s. Prior to this Agriculture Revolution, India which before Nigeria, gained Independence from Britain in August 1947, survived on food donated from other countries as a result of frequent famines and drought.
On the other hand, the decision of the Government of Anambra State to spend almost one billion naira on the proposed iconic tower at Ekwulobia under the prevailing economic condition in the country, calls for serious concern. The Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles C. Soludo, being a social scientist, ought to be very familiar with Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which is a motivational theory in psychology, comprising a five-tier model of human needs in hierarchical levels within a pyramid. Maslow (1908-1970), one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century, posited that survival needs must be satisfied before we think about other needs.
The American psychologist saw physiological (biological) needs as the most important. They include breathing, food, water, clothing and shelter. He argued that without these physiological needs, the human body cannot function optimally. Once the physiological needs are satisfied, the next level-the need for safety and security-becomes important, followed respectively by the needs for love and belonging, self-esteem and self-actualisation.
Based on this theory, I don’t see how the proposed ‘Iconic Light of the Nation Tower’ at Ekwulobia will contribute to the survival of the five million inhabitants of Anambra State whose existence is threatened by hunger, just like millions of other Nigerians living in different states. For me, it would have made more economic sense to deploy the almost one billion Naira approved for building the proposed tower to tackling food insecurity.
Omor town in Anyamelum Local Government Area of Anambra State was once the largest rice producer in the entire South Eastern Nigeria. Unfortunately, the agrarian potential of Omor and the other seven towns in Anyamelum has been inhibited by lack of government support. The story is not different in other major agrarian communities in the State, scattered across Ogbaru, Anambra East and Anambra West localities.
Alternatively, the one billion naira will definitely serve more useful purposes if deployed to the security sector in Anambra State. It is no longer news that Anambra is one of the hotbeds of insecurity in South East Nigeria. Lately the State has witnessed a spike in the spate of attacks by unknown gunmen, kidnapping and killings linked to cultism. Equipping the Nigerian security agencies and vigilante operatives with the huge amount approved for the tower, will go a long way in addressing the widespread insecurity in the State.
Besides, the idea of building a tower at Ekwulobia clearly contradicts Governor Soludo’s justification for not fulfilling his promise of making Anambra State the “Dubai-Taiwan of Nigeria.”
Speaking at an event recently, Soludo mocked those who felt that making Anambra Dubai-Taiwan meant building skyscrapers everywhere in the State. He maintained that such cannot be done with an illiterate population, insisting that access to qualitative education is the road to the destination. But if he knew that access to qualitative education will take Anambra to Dubai and Taiwan, then the one billion Naira should be channeled to the improvement of access to education, rather than constructing a tower.
In conclusion, prudence is very critical in governance because resources are not limitless. Decisions require sound judgment. Before taking a decision, you must identify the priority areas for the good and welfare of the people.
Dr Nzomiwu is a Communication scholar, Journalist and Public Relations practitioner.He can be reached via: [email protected]
