Nigeria’s Inclusion in the Hunger Hotspots by FAO-WFP: Grim manifestations of the Ruinous Anti-Poor Policies of the Tinubu government

FFRC Calls for  Reversal of all Anti-Poor Policies and Demands Adequate Investments in Both the Social and Real Sectors  Including Agriculture to Meet the Needs of the Majority

The Food and Farmers’ Rights Campaigns (FFRC) views the recent inclusion of Nigeria in the list of world’s hunger hotspots along with 12 other countries and territories including Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Myanmar, Palestine, Syria etc, most of which are war-torn, by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) in their report, as not only worrisome, but also predictable. For us, while this is very concerning, it’s an inevitable consequence of the rabid implementations of the ruinous anti-poor economic policies of the APC-led government of President Bola Tinubu, since its inception in office. These policies which are his overall cocktail reform programmes as dictated by the IMF and World Bank, include fuel subsidy removal, devaluation of the naira, increased electricity tariff, tax increases, cuts in social funding etc.

The semi-annual Hunger Hotspots report, published on June 16, is according to FAO and WFP “an early-warning and predictive analysis of deteriorating food crises for the next five months”. Developed and published with financial support from the European Union through the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC), the latest edition projects a serious deterioration of acute food insecurity in 13 countries and territories – the world’s most critical hunger hotspots in the coming months”.

“This report is a red alert. We know where hunger is rising and we know who is at risk,” said Cindy McCain, World Food Programme Executive Director. “We have the tools and experience to respond, but without funding and access, we cannot save lives. Urgent, sustained investment in food assistance and recovery support is crucial as the window to avert yet more devastating hunger is closing fast.”

Furthermore, FFRC notes that this is also coming a few weeks after the United Nations Children Funds (UNICEF) said that Nigeria has the second highest burden of stunted children in the world, with a national prevalence rate of 32 percent of children under five. It estimated that 2 million children in Nigeria suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), but only two out of every 10 children affected is currently reached with treatment. In addition, seven percent of women of childbearing age are said to also suffer from acute malnutrition! In addition, UNICEF said malnutrition is a direct or underlying cause of 45 percent of all deaths of under-five children”.

All this has again underscored the debilitating effects of the Tinubu’s anti-poor capitalist policies, that have made many households  starve, due to the high cost of basic food items now priced out of the reach of  workers  and poor mass majority.

No doubt the insecurity bedevilling parts of the Northern states, especially the north east, and the middle belt region popularly referred to as the ‘food baskets’ of the nation occasioned by farmers-herders clashes, is one of the factors responsible for the acute food insecurity. The conflicts in these regions including banditry, kidnapping and terrorist attacks by Boko Haram and other militant Islamic groups have left many farmers abandoning their farms for IDP camps for safety, abandoning their crops and animals, which are either destroyed or stolen by these groups. In addition, other risk factors like climate change induced natural disasters also play significant roles .

By and large however, the bottom line for this deep-seated, precarious state  of hunger, starvation malnutrition, food insecurity, remains the profit first philosophy of the successive capitalist ruling elites in the past, and the present President Bola Tinubu’s administration. In other words, these successive governments have primarily existed for the interest of a few privileged rich individuals both in corporate businesses, and public office holders, as against the needs of the majority. This has led to poor and inadequate investments in real sectors of the economy, including agriculture and cuts in spending on social services.

Ordinarily, the FFRC states without equivocation that Nigeria with over 70 million hectares of rich agricultural land, including 34 million hectares for arable crops, 6.5 million hectares for permanent/cash crops and 28 6 million hectares of meadows and pastures for grazing  animals, shouldn’t lack the access to affordable, nutritious, healthy food for its teeming population.

We strongly hold that agricultural production and food security are no rocket science. What is required is not organized prayer sessions, as shamelessly done recently by a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, for God’s intervention in guaranteeing food security. Rather government and institutions entrusted with constitutional roles of ensuring that  citizens are food secured must be intentional in  making people oriented  policies, including adequate investments in agriculture and other sectors, mitigation of effects of climate change disasters through climate resilient agricultural production, among others, geared towards meeting the food and nutritional needs of the majority, as against super profits for a few sharks both corporate and public services.

To this end, the FFRC demands the immediate reversal of anti-poor economic policies of the Tinubu government, and the resolution of the security challenges currently ravaging the country, especially in the food belts of the northern states. Ultimately, expecting a pro-rich, corrupt capitalist government like Tinubu’s to resolve the hunger and security crises is a tall dream. What is required to resolve these multifaceted challenges, is a pro workers’ and poor people government with socialist programme of public ownership of the key sectors of the economy and democratic management and control, to free up resources to provide for the needs of the vast majority.

Eko John Nicholas

National Coordinator

Food and Farmers’ Rights Campaigns

08022634850