Obi: Nigeria Has No Business Being Among Top Hungriest Countries Of The World

Laleye Dipo in Minna

The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Mr Peter Obi, has said that Nigeria has no business being rated among the top hungriest countries in the world.

Obi made the observation in Minna, the Niger State capital, Monday when he paid a condolence visit to the state government over last week’s flash floods which claimed 153 lives and rendered about 3,083 people homeless.

He said two states in the country — Niger and Borno — have the potentials to produce the food the country needed and even export surplus if the right thing is done.

“Nigeria has no reason to be among the top hungriest countries of the world. What we need to do is to embark on what can pull us out of poverty,” he declared.

He said if Bangladesh, a small country, could produce 10 times the rice consumed globally, “we need to invest more in Niger and Borno to be able to feed Nigeria”.

Obi, who said he was in Minna to show solidarity with the people over the Mokwa disaster, added that “because whatever happens to Niger happens to Nigeria and we are all Nigerians, we are brothers and sisters”. 

He described the incident in Mokwa as an act of God, saying no one can question Him, as he prayed to God to comfort the families of those who lost loved ones.

Responding, the state Deputy Governor, Yakubu Garba, aligned with Obi, saying: “Nigeria is not secured in terms of food production. In terms of public health, Nigeria is still battling.”

Garba noted that the flood in Mokwa has further worsened the food and health care situations in the state, expressing fears of a likely breakout of an epidemic as a result of the destruction of the main water supply line in the town.

Obi was accompanied on the visit by the Minister of State for Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Sabi Abdullahi.