Crusoe Osagie writes on the problem of hunger in Nigeria and government’s plan to end the embarrassing scourge
Apart from the hunger crisis of the mid 1980s and the 1990s occasioned by the austerity measures of the first Muhammadu Buhari regime and the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) of the Ibrahim Babangida government respectively, the past two years have presented unrivalled food and nutrition challenges.
A one-time director general of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dr. Peter Hatman, told THISDAY in an interview in 2004, that Nigeria, at the time, did not fall under the category of nations facing hunger crisis. One wonders what his views would be if that interview is repeated today.
Among the nations of the world, apart from Syria where the war against the Islamic State has produced a spectacular humanitarian challenge, there is no other part of the world with more malnutrition and starvation crisis than Nigeria.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP),
various problems, led by the terrorist insurgency, have led to one of the most acute – and sorely neglected – humanitarian crises in the world.
According to WFP, as more areas of northeastern Nigeria are becoming accessible, the scale of the human tragedy is becoming apparent.
Some 2.1 million people are displaced in northeastern Nigeria. The number of people in need of food assistance in the region has risen to 4.5 million and rising. A worsening economy has seen this figure rise in millions.
There are real concerns that in the worst affected and least accessible areas of Borno and Yobe States, severe forms of hunger, and likely famine-like conditions, may be occurring.
The vast majority of people with moderate and severe food insecurity are in Borno State – at more than 3 million.
Unless life-saving assistance is provided fast, hunger will only deepen. An estimated 244,000 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition, including up to 49,000 children who are at risk of dying if not reached with treatment.
Compared to exactly what is on ground, the WFP seemed to put it mildly, perhaps because they lack the indigenous insight to really penetrate and evaluate the crisis in the north-east which seems to be dynamic in nature.
Moreso, apart from the Boko Haram crisis in the north-east, there is also the Fulani herdsmen crisis which began in the north-central region of the country but has since spread down wards to the south-east, south-west and south-south regions as well.
Herdsmen simply move their livestock into peoples farms to graze and any resistance from the crop farmers ignites brutal violence which has resulted in the death of thousands and the sacking of communities.
All these crises have left unrelenting hunger and biting poverty in its trail, bringing out the worst in the people of the affected areas.
Also, apart from these regions ravaged by insurgency and hate crimes and plagued by hunger as a result, the remaining parts of the country, particularly the urban centres are no less harassed.
However, the culpable agent provocateur in the urban hunger crisis is the ongoing economic challenge.
While millions have lost their jobs and livelihoods to the economic meltdown on the one hand, they now have to deal with food prices that have risen by up to 300 per cent in some cases.
Various market surveys have shown the price of rice, which has become a staple food in Nigeria rising from N8,000 per 50kg bag about a year ago to around N24,000 today.
As for garri, which is another staple, the price has risen from N4,000 per bag to N15,000 per bag.
The same nature of increase has been seen with vegetable oil, maize, cowpea, fish, meat among others, driving already beaten down Nigerians to the brink.
An Intervention
It is therefore noteworthy, on the back of the hunger crisis highlighted above, that the nation and its policy makers seem to be looking into the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target two, which seeks to end hunger and malnutrition.
Recently, Nigeria launched a strategic plan and roadmap to achieve zero hunger by 2030. Though a lot of the vulnerable people today would have been long killed by hunger and malnutrition before 2030, the initiative is better late than never.
The plan tagged: “Synthesis Report of the Nigeria Zero Hunger Strategic Review” articulates what Nigeria needs to do to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2)—one of the recently adopted global goals that seeks to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” by 2030. The 60-page home-developed document reflects Nigerians’ perspectives as to what steps need to be taken to win the battle against hunger and malnutrition. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo who chairs the development of the Synthesis Report said, “The report would support and encourage the government to implement the policies, strategies, plans, and programs that have been formulated over many years, and to do so with a focus on achieving Zero Hunger by 2030, if not earlier.” To tap its rich agricultural potential and lift over 13 million people from hunger, Nigeria in 2015 endorsed a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of efforts to achieve sustainable development in general.
Former President Obasanjo said the launch of the Synthesis Report provided a framework that would “unlock the potential of our nation and emancipate our dear country from the shackles of hunger and poverty.”
He noted that the establishment of the Nigeria Zero Hunger Forum based at International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), would ensure that recommendations contained in the Synthesis Report and the individual Subcommittee reports are implemented.
“We must do all we can so that this effort does not suffer the fate of previous endeavours,” he stressed.
The former President commended President Muhammadu Buhari for endorsing the Nigeria Zero Hunger Strategic Review. He lauded Ms. Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) for funding and requesting that the review be conducted, and gave special thanks to the African Development Bank (AfDB) for providing majority of the funds, which financed the Review.
The Director of Policy and Program, World Food Programme, Mr. Stanlake Samkange commended Nigeria for developing the strategic document, emphasising that the Report was the first in West Africa and would be a guide for other countries to emulate. He reiterated that the task of ending hunger cannot be solved by a single organisation and lauded the collaborations of the different actors in the development of the Report.
The inauguration of the Synthesis Report will be backed with immediate implementation in four states of the federation—Benue, Ebonyi, Ogun and Sokoto beginning this January.
In January 2019 eight more states will be added and by January 2021, all 36 States plus Abuja will be included.
The Director General of the IITA, Dr. Nteranya Sanginga said the Synthesis Report was a departure from other previous reports in the sense that it would be backed by immediate actions.
According to him, IITA would continue to support states with relevant technologies cutting across crops such as cassava, maize, cowpea, yam, soybean, banana and plantain among others.
The launch of the Synthesis Report received commendations from the Minister of Health, federal legislatures, state governments, United Nations agencies, the African Development Bank and the private sector among others.
Nigeria Determined
The Federal Republic of Nigeria says it is committed to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as measuring and monitoring progress towards the goals and targets that Heads of State and Government collectively agreed at the Special Summit of the United Nations held in September 2015. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 emphasizes the prominence of food security and nutrition in the Agenda, calling on member states to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” by 2030. The principal targets of SDG 2 are ending hunger and ensuring access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food; ending
all forms of malnutrition; doubling the productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers; ensuring sustainable food production systems and implementing resilient agricultural practices; and maintaining the genetic diversity of seeds, plants, and animals. Supplemental measures to promote the achievement of the targets include increasing investment, correcting and preventing trade restrictions and distortions, and ensuring the proper functioning of food commodity markets.
The Nigeria Zero Hunger Strategic Review sought to articulate what Nigeria must do to achieve SDG 2 (zero hunger) by 2030 through an open and consultative process.
The subcommittees established subject-specific baselines that fostered joint understanding of the challenges and gaps in the national response to food and nutrition insecurity; contributed to consensus on priority actions required to achieve zero hunger in Nigeria by 2030; and led to the development of a road map for tracking progress on the implementation of the review’s recommendations.
Arranged along the targets of SDG 2, this Synthesis Report of the Nigeria Zero Hunger Strategic Review summarizes the findings and recommendations of the subcommittees, and in some instances complements these with recently available information.
End hunger and ensure access by all people (SDG 2.1) –Nigeria has made good progress
over the past 25 years, reducing by nearly half the proportion of people suffering from hunger. However, this progress has been slowed or even reversed during the past decade. Nearly 13 million Nigerians still suffer from hunger, with wide disparities across geopolitical zones and between urban and rural areas. These unfavorable trends are due in part to limited gains in food security and nutrition relative to rapid population growth. The high prevalence of hunger in rural areas is associated with low agricultural growth, poor road infrastructure, limited access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene, and inadequate health and education services. Furthermore and since 2014, the insurgency in the Northeast of the country (i.e., Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states) has displaced 2.6 million people, including 700,000 who have taken refuge in neighboring countries. The conflict has added pressure to a fragile resource environment and increased the food and nutrition insecurity of vulnerable women and children.
