Insecurity: Benue Losing Nigeria’s Food Basket Status

With over 2,650 people reportedly killed in attacks on communities in Benue State in the past 14 months, the state is losing its revered status as the food basket of Nigeria unless President Bola Tinubu intervenes urgently to secure the state for the people to return to the farms, Davidson Iriekpen writes

Who will save the people of Benue State from incessant attacks? This is the pressing question on the minds of those who truly care about the ongoing insecurity in the state.

Last week, about 50 people were killed in the Ayati community in Ukum Local Government Area by bandits who have been terrorising the state for the past decade.

Expectedly, the state Governor, Rev Fr. Hyacinth Alia condemned the renewed killings, wondering why they continued despite a strong security presence and the regular dialogue sessions his administration had been holding with stakeholders and traditional rulers seeking the return of peace in the Sankara axis of the state.

In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Kula Tersoo, the governor described the attack as “another unprovoked attack” in the community.

Alia, who vowed to continue to use lawful means to protect Benue people, particularly Ukum residents, called on security personnel to improve their surveillance and ensure that vulnerable communities were not left unguarded.

He explained that the government was awaiting a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to bring out its findings.

Ukum is one of the three local government areas that make up the Sankara axis where criminality holds sway. Others are Katsina-Ala and Logo LGAs.

On July 3, 2024, the state government declared a curfew on the troubled Ukum LGA as youths engaged in violent protests that led to the destruction of personal and government property worth hundreds of millions of naira. The violent protest was a result of the killing of 11 people by local bandits in the Ayati community.

On July 19, local bandits defied the curfew and unleashed terror on the Mbachier council ward in Katsina-Ala LGA, killing 18 people.

It is said that a secured Benue alone could feed the entire nation. This is why it is commonly referred to as the food basket of Nigeria.

It is famous for yams, rice, maize, oranges, mangoes, and other agricultural produce. Yet, for the past 10 years, the state has known anything but peace.

With the unending insecurity in Benue, the state is fast losing its status as the food basket of Nigeria.

Almost daily, bandits and herdsmen raid villages, killing men, women, and children, while also raping and kidnapping countless others.

Many believe that the level of hunger in Nigeria today is as a result of the inability of farmers in the state to go to their farms as the residents live in constant fear of being killed, maimed or kidnapped. 

It is widely believed that if the federal government doesn’t tackle insecurity seriously, the prices of foodstuffs will continue to rise amid the economic hardship in the country.

Last June, international watchdog Amnesty International, revealed that about 2,600 persons, mostly women and children, were killed following attacks on 50 communities in the state between January 2023 and February 2024.

In a recent news conference in Makurdi, the state capital, its Programme Director, Mrs. Barbara Magaji, said 18 out of the 23 LGAs in the state were constantly under security threats by armed attackers. 

“These attacks are significantly affecting food security and livelihoods because the affected communities are farmers, and displacement makes them unable to carry out any farming activity,” Magaji reportedly said.

She further quoted the state’s Ministry of Education and the Teaching Service Board as saying that at least 55 schools had been destroyed by armed bandits or closed down due to insecurity, leaving hundreds of children out of school. 

She stressed the need for the Nigerian authorities to end the attacks in the state and protect lives and also give justice to the victims and their families.

Last year, the state Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) disclosed that from 2015 to June 2023, 5,138 farmers were killed by suspected herdsmen attacks across the state.

The Executive Secretary of SEMA, Dr. Emmanuel Shior, who disclosed this while briefing journalists on the update of humanitarian crises in the state, also informed that following the recent simultaneous attacks by the herdsmen in four local government areas of Gwer West, Agatu, Kwande, Logo and Makurdi,  the state currently has over two million IDPs. He added that 18 of the 23 local government areas of the state were under siege.

Providing a yearly breakdown of the killings, Shior revealed that in 2015 alone, 1,177 farmers were killed. In 2016, 809 farmers lost their lives, followed by 43 in 2017, and 440 in 2018. The death toll in 2019 was 174, with 88 farmers killed in 2020. The number of killings skyrocketed in 2021 to 2,131, while 172 farmers were killed in 2022. From January 2023 to date, 104 farmers have been killed, bringing the total number of deaths recorded since the inception of this administration to 5,138.

Shior also accused the federal government of neglecting the humanitarian crisis in the state where internally displaced persons (IDPs) have remained in camps for over five years. He emphasised that leaving the responsibility of addressing their plight to the state government alone had placed a tremendous burden on the state.

Throughout the eight years of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, there was no concerted effort to address the killings in the state despite pressure from local and international observers.

This is why it is disheartening that under President Tinubu’s administration, the federal government has not taken deliberate steps to handle the situation differently and save the people of the state from incessant attacks.

It is time for President Tinubu, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Service Chiefs, the governor and all who are saddled with the responsibility of securing the citizens to think outside the box and find a solution to end the persistent carnage in the state and indeed other parts of the country.

Since President Tinubu reconstituted and reconfigured the nation’s military architecture – a move widely seen as a sign of his seriousness in combating these agents of darkness – little progress has been made in Benue State. Not a single attacker has been arrested, fuelling the speculations of conspiracy to annihilate the residents of certain parts of the state and seize their ancestral land.

Despite the president’s repeated orders for troops to pursue suspected terrorists responsible for these mass killings, the people of the state have yet to see any significant improvement.

Incidentally, the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, is from the state. Under the Buhari government, he was the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, yet nothing was done to save the state from frequent attacks.

It is high time the federal government took decisive action to address the insecurity plaguing the country, particularly in states like Zamfara, Katsina, Borno, Plateau, Benue and Taraba, where the situation is threatening the very foundation of the nation.

It is no longer enough for President Tinubu to merely express sadness and order actions to bring the perpetrators to justice; he must hold security agents to account.