Democracy With Hungry Citizens

BY NDUBUISI FRANCIS

Nothing underscored the stark reality that hunger stalks the land than a valedictory session for Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, the last Minister of Finance under former President Muhammadu Buhari, barely a year ago. Venue was the Congress Hall of the highbrow Transcorp Hotel, Abuja where the high and mighty converged to bid her farewell after about five years overseeing the nation’s treasury. I watched with utter disbelief the scramble for food at an occasion that had in attendance such an assemblage of otherwise more privileged people.

As of the time this happened, food inflation was 24.68 per cent. Fast forward to 2024 when macroeconomic indices, following the reform policies of the current administration, have taken a precipitous slide to the south, further eroding the standard of living of most Nigerians. Food inflation is currently at 40.53 per cent. And what has made the crisis scary is that Nigerians cannot improvise with cheaper alternatives. There is no “poor man’s food” anymore. Garri which once occupied that derogatory status has walked its way to the elite club, rubbing shoulders with food classes that were considered the preserve of the rich and middle class. How did we get here?

The food crisis currently ravaging the land is clearly not the making of the Tinubu administration, although some of its policies exacerbated the situation. The seeming intractable security problem, lack of visionary leadership, misplaced priorities, corruption and laissez-faire approach to governance, among others, combined to make Nigeria one of the top countries with the highest number of hungry citizens.

A nation that has the full potential to be a net exporter of food now harbours millions of hungry and angry citizens who can barely afford a square meal a day. And many of those who can afford to feed are least bothered by the nutritional quality of what they consume.

Nigeria’s hunger situation worsened in 2023, dropping six places in the Global Hunger Index to 109th out of 125 countries, compared to 103rd in 2022. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has projected that 26.5 million Nigerians are at the risk of hunger in 2024. Also, according to the recent report by the World Food Programme (WFP), the number of food insecure people in Nigeria was the second highest globally, with 24.8 million inhabitants facing hunger at crisis or worse levels.

Before the present administration came on board, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina had raised the alarm, urging Nigeria to expedite action to avert food crisis in the country. He was exasperated that the country was yet to sign and utilise a $244 million fund for emergency food production approved by the Pan-African bank since July 2022. The fund was part of $1.5 billion African Emergency Food Production Facility launched by the bank to support 20 million farmers to access climate-resilient agricultural technologies and produce 38 million metric tons of food valued at $12 billion, in a bid to help prevent a food crisis arising from the Russian war in Ukraine.

Yet, such an incentive that needed urgent action by purpose-driven leadership was not swiftly grabbed. Now, the food crisis is upon us. How do we come out of it?

NDUBUISI FRANCIS  From 1992 when he started his journalism career, Francis has covered health, labour, capital market, energy, and aviation correspondent before becoming Deputy Group Business Editor, Group News Editor and currently, Associate Editor (Business) in the Nation’s Capital. Winner of several awards in journalism, Ndubuisi holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Lagos, a Diploma in Journalism from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), and a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Abuja.