By Femi Oyelola
Prof. Adekola Oluwaseun of the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) recently said many Nigerians are food insecure because they lack regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and for active and healthy life.
The Nutritionist who spoke at a forum recently attributed this ugly situation to the unavailability of food and/or lack of resources to obtain food which leads to rising poverty, and hunger which, according to him, might force people to anarchy if not properly managed.
Similarly, the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, while addressing traditional rulers from the Northern State of Kaduna recently warned that that rising poverty, hunger and insecurity in the country will force people to revolt against President Bola Tinubu’s government very soon.
“It is getting to a level that traditional leaders could no longer pacify the people from revolting against the government and political leaders that are supposed to find solutions to their lingering socio-economic plight.
“We have reached that level, people are very agitated, people are hungry, they are angry, but they still believe there are people who can talk to them, they believe in some of their governors, some other traditional rulers and some of their religious leaders, fortunately, some of us double as traditional and religious leaders,” the Sultan said.
Weekend Peoples Daily can authoritatively reveal that the events of the past few days has shown that the country has gone beyond the phase of speculation and now in the phase of reality as some youths were reported to have looted food items from trucks stuck in traffic along Kaduna Road in the Suleja area of Niger State.
Similarly, hoodlums allegedly attacked a warehouse belonging to the Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) located in the Dei-Dei area of the capital city where they looted rice, grains, and other food items.
This development has forced some Nigerians to appeal to President Bola Tinubu, to find an urgent and immediate means of grappling with the increasingly degenerating hardship in the country to save the poor from the excruciating pangs of hunger, poverty and squalor threatening their daily existence..
They expressed morbid fears that the increasingly degenerating hardship might pave the way for a violent revolution or an irrepressible wave of anarchy or insurrection that could imperil national peace and put a dramatic halt on the continued existence of the incumbent administration since hunger is the foremost harbinger of violent crises.
Reacting to this uncanny development, the President, Supreme Council For Shariah in Nigeria (SCSN),
Sheikh Abdurrasheed Hadiytullah, at the Pre-Ramadan lecture of the Council held within the week said looking back into the past, one credibly recalls that quite a good number of revolutions that took place in history were due to hunger arising from the unbearable cost of food.
He therefore called on the Ulamah to use their respective podiums during the Ramadan to advocate for the establishment of an expansive social safety net to provide immediate relief to the most vulnerable populations.
The SCSN President appealed to the federal and state governments, to provide immediate relief and succour to the multitudes of the disadvantaged against the stifling economic hardships.
“We call on all governments to also consider organizing community feeding for them, in as many centres, especially during the time of Iftar.
“In these challenging times, it is crucial that we uphold the principles of peace, unity, and understanding. We should preach against resorting to violent protests against the government and strive for dialogue and constructive engagement with governments to address our concerns.
“ Islam encourages us to seek solutions to problems with our leaders through peaceful means only. Violence only begets more violence, and it is our duty as responsible citizens and followers of Islam to promote harmony and stability.
“ Together, let us channel our grievances through peaceful avenues, fostering a culture of tolerance and cooperation for the betterment of our society,” he admonished.
However, the Deputy Executive Director of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) Mr. Leo Atakpu opined that the issue at stake in the country today should not be left to the individual but rather, let the Federal Executive Council embark on a collaborative synergy to brainstorm vigorously on emergency save-our-soul measures, which becomes crucial, critical and urgent.
He expressed dismay that the issue of breaking into warehouses by some youths in the FCT and some parts of the country is unfortunate and wondered how the country gets to this point in its national history.
Mr. Atakpu observed breaking into an enclosed place to steal things, ordinarily, is condemnable; particularly for younger people.
He, however, said the hardship President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has foisted on Nigerians pushed these youths to do despicable things.
According to him if you push a goat to the wall, it will bite if you are not careful, so the government must begin to address the many problems facing the economy of Nigeria,
“Provide access for people to have food and other basic things. Food, clothes, and shelter, this is fundamental human rights and the government cannot play the ostrich.
“You cannot push people to the extent that this government has done and expect that everything will be happening fine, and people will be clapping for you, that is where we have found ourselves.
“It is even wrong to refer to these young people as hoodlums, very wrong in the first place because these are people you have pushed into desperation by your administration, policies that have thrown so many people into despair.
“People are selling their children to procure drugs, to buy food in this country right now and then somebody is calling young people, even though the government is hoarding basic needs, and you are calling them all sorts of names.
“They don’t deserve those names, the government should do the right thing for the people especially the young ones so that these incidents will not reoccur.
“This is only the beginning, so they should sit up and do the right thing for the good of Nigerians,” he said.
But another reaction, Surv. Ephraim Musa said he had seen videos where hoodlums hijacked trucks carrying food which was a sore to the eyes.
He opined that despite the level of hunger suffered in the country, it is a bad act to hijack food trucks as it is nothing but stealing which hurts the perpetrators.
He therefore called on the authorities to be unified in seeking a permanent solution to the evil act.
His words: “I have seen two videos, one in Zaria and the other in FCT where hoodlums hijacked a truck carrying foodstuff. We know that there’s hunger in the land but that is no excuse to justify the bad act.”
“I think it is time people stopped using hunger as an excuse for their bad characters.”
“I would also like to call on the Federal Government to look for possible ways that can help in solving this once and for all because people are doing bad things in the name of hunger.
“I advise we stop this so that travellers and people who supply foodstuffs can be safe.”
“The security operatives should also put all hands on deck to see how such goods can be delivered safely.”
Similarly, Alhaji Musa Ikara, a wholesale distributor in the Ikara Local Government of Kaduna state, advised the that it is time for government to act fast because there is no distinction between public and private in a state of anarchy.
According to him when the government allows chaos to happen, chaos does not know whether it is government or private property. When it rains, it doesn’t rain only on government or private property.
“The looters are not concerned whether it is government or private property. They just want food, anything that looks like food, they will go after it.
“This is why concerned observers have asked the government to look for concrete measures to reduce the state of hunger in the land
Musa who lamented the reduction in the number of trucks moving products on the highway said while it is true the prevalent impasse was not of President Tinubu’s making, but rather an inherited burden, especially from the two successive past administrations, it still behoves on him, in keeping with his electoral promises, upon which he was given the popular mandate of the presidency by progress-loving Nigerians, to seek desperate and urgent solutions to them.
Corroborating this view point, the Northern Youth Groups (NYG,) in coalition with concerned Civil Society Organizations (CSOs,) called on the Federal government to prioritize the production of local farm produce to urgently address the hunger in the land.
Rising from a meeting aimed at providing a solution to the economic hardship and insecurity in the country, the group aligned with the FGN position not to import food but rather empower the local farmers with all the needed farm inputs to produce food requirements and even export some.
They however frowned at the practice of using middlemen to drive the process, and, therefore, suggested the use of traditional institutions to reach the farmers directly and to establish monitoring policies that will help safeguard the process.
Pastor Gabriel Hassan, Senior Pastor of the Bible Church Garki, Abuja, advised President Tinubu and other political and Economic leaders to read the hard writing on the wall by acting fast to avoid the looming anarchy.
According to him, it is obvious Nigerians are hungry and angry at this particular time so it is time to provide solutions to prevent another ‘Arab Spring’
The clergy stressed that promises without action would only worsen the situation.
