Cole Urges Tinubu to Focus on Tackling Hunger

Folalumi Alaran in Abuja

The gubernatorial candidate of All Progressives Congress in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, has called on President Bola Tinubu to prioritise the eradication of hunger for the overall progress of the nation.

He made the remarks during the unveiling of Nigeria’s hunger report by the T200 Foundation in Abuja yesterday.

At the session, Cole said such issues as violence, weak government structures, and healthcare systems had contributed significantly to the prevalent hunger in the country.

He, therefore, stressed the urgent need to address these challenges effectively in order to achieve the goal of zero hunger.

He urged the President to draw lessons from China’s successful approach and develop a simple and feasible model to combat hunger in Nigeria.

He said, “Nigeria is once again at a unique historical juncture in which some measures, if done correctly and with the right political will, can be enormously transformational for the country and the continent at large.

“It is instructive that China accomplished this using a two-pronged method. The first strategic pillar, according to the World Bank study, was to implement a broad-based economic transformation to create new economic possibilities and boost average incomes.

“The second strategic pillar entailed providing targeted assistance for poverty alleviation. These factors that drive extreme poverty and, inevitably, hunger are similar to what exists in Nigeria today.

This means that to meet the SDG 2 target of zero hunger through poverty eradication, Nigeria must also design a simple, implementable, and sustainable model and stick to it over time.

“This is undoubtedly more sophisticated than the famous ‘stomach infrastructure’ but it must be as simple to the masses as ‘stomach infrastructure’ is to them.”

He advised the president to ensure there is a comprehensive register for vulnerable persons in the country to enable it to effectively tackle the menace.

Cole said: “I will like to call on the government to consolidate the various data gathering platforms such as the National Social Register, National Identification Number, Biometric Verification Number to create an interface with NGOs active in the field to integrate the data they have with that of the government to create a comprehensive register of all vulnerable persons in Nigeria. ”

The Executive Director, T200 Foundation, Emmanuel Osadebay, said the hunger index in the country carries across the states.

He said states like Yobe and Sokoto, among others, had the highest hunger index, while Lagos, Delta and Ogun had the lowest scores.

Osadebay said all hands must be on deck to achieve zero hunger in the country.