Sir: Food security has been severely threatened in the country due to high inflation rates, supply chain disruptions, climate change and security challenges. These have heightened the level of poverty, hunger and social unrest. The matter gets even worse in an era of removal of subsidies, even food subsidies.
Nigeria being a country with millions of low-income earners, many families struggle to afford basic necessities, pushing them deeper into poverty and worsening hunger and malnutrition. Insecurity in the form of insurgency, banditry, and kidnapping disrupts agricultural activities in several regions. Farmers are displaced from their lands, and transportation routes become dangerous, hindering the movement of people and essential goods. This not only reduces the overall yield but also creates market shortages, driving food prices up.
Someone has asked; for how long shall we bear this burden of insecurity before we take deliberate and calculated measures to end the menace? How far should the value of human life descend before we, the leaders, begin to frown on the wanton loss of lives in our nation?
Most northern states which are regarded as the food baskets of the nation are dangerously besieged – Plateau, Benue, Adamawa, Zamfara, Bauchi, Sokoto. As the farming season sets in, there is an envisioned hunger, scarcity and steeper rise in prices of food. The aim of Boko Haram is to establish an Islamic state.
The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has hinted that about 26.5 million Nigerians may face more hunger between June and August. The obvious link between high food prices and insecurity exacerbates as the farming season sets in. Some of the 276 Chibok girls kidnapped from a boarding school in 2014 are yet to regain their freedom, while kidnapping and terrorism persist.
Recently, General T. Y. Danjuma bemoaned the level of insecurity in the country as it hampers growth and development. When Muhammed Yusuf founded the Islamic sectarian movement, he got little or no opposition from the northern governors. We could further view the conflict as resulting from a long-standing issue of religious crisis between Muslim and Christian communities, including farmers. The killing of Abubakar Shekau did not restore peace neither did the mediation of Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, which rather than improve safety, deteriorated into more encampments by Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP).
The politics of insecurity affects mainly peace-loving Nigerians. Insecurity in Nigeria is a bargain, hedge fund and a siege, which would not easily be resolved through conventional means. The seemingly intractable insecurity in Nigeria is ominous of threat to the corporate existence of the country.
Wisdom is better than strength and weapons of war. With all the messiness, it is essential to keep thriving. By tackling insecurity and investing in domestic food production, the country can create a more secure and stable future for its people. We still stand a chance because we are not alone in the challenging situations. We were created with a love mold and not with a hate mold. Zeal without knowledge is a dangerous cankerworm. Fear would make us more susceptible. No matter the challenges we are facing, we must remain united and optimistic in our struggle for a more peaceful and secure Nigeria in which everyone will feel free to live and thrive.
