When Akpabio Spoke Truth to Power

For the first time since he assumed office in 2023, President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, identified with the plight of the common man and took governance seriously when he lamented the rising cost of food and the growing threat of hunger across the country.

The former Akwa Ibom State governor also called for urgent and coordinated national action to avert a worsening food crisis.

Akpabio made the call last Tuesday in his welcome address at the first sitting of the Senate as the Upper Chamber resumed plenary for 2026 after the Christmas and New Year recess,

He warned that rising food prices and hunger now pose a grave challenge to national stability and citizens’ wellbeing.

The Senate president, while citing a recent United Nations’ projection that up to 35 million Nigerians could face hunger this year, described the situation as a national emergency requiring immediate legislative, executive and societal response.

Akpabio said the worsening cost of food had placed unbearable pressure on households, particularly the most vulnerable, stressing that the Senate must act decisively to strengthen food security and protect citizens from the harsh effects of inflation.

The Senate president used the opportunity to extend condolences to families affected by insecurity across the country, stressing that security challenges were not abstract statistics but real human tragedies involving lost lives, shattered homes and uncertain futures.

To many Nigerians, this is the first time Akpabio will identify with the plights of the masses since he assumed office.

While he may not have used the occasion to directly chastise the executive arm of government, he indirectly implied that they were not doing enough to tackle poverty, hunger and hardship.

That he spoke truth to power when some members of the executive and legislature were still in denial that prices of food have come down, was commendable.

Nigerians need lawmakers that feel the pulse of the people, not those whose only achievement is to constantly profess  “on your mandate we stand.”