Economic Crunch: Nigerians become scavengers
James Yombo, a retired journalist, who lives in the Iyesi Area of Ogun State, was taken aback when he heard what the current economic situation in the country has turned a family to. “It is a family of five. The wife being a petty trader and the husband an artisan”, Yombo started as he narrated the story.
“The neighbourhood was stunned when somebody, who went to visit them, found the family taking a meal of eba with the kind of soup anybody would least expect.
“It was a soup of water leaf with nothing like pepper, palm oil, not to mention either fish or meat.
“They only added salt to the water leaf and were eating the eba with it. The family said it was their only meal for the day and it was already evening.
“Also, a single mother had to send her small children to go scavenging nearby farms and see if they could get pawpaw, whether ripe or unripe, to eat.
“According to her, the hapless kids needed something to hold their tummies. The situation is dire”.
Also, John Komolafe, an accountant, was in his farm where he rears pigs, rabbits and also has some fish ponds when a neighbour, John, came calling asking for a favour.
“It was late in the afternoon and he asked if I could do him a favour”, Komolafe stated.
“He asked for permission to cut a bunch of banana, not plantain, for his family to boil and eat for supper. I told him that it is plantain that people normally boil and eat and that the banana was not yet mature, but he said I should not bother.
“When I called him later to find out what they did with the banana, he said his family boiled and ate it without palm oil or anything.
“He retired some years ago as a printer in a packaging company and hoped for a life devoid of such stress and inconveniences.
“He runs a small piggery and, on a number of occasions, he would come to me and beg to give him some food to feed his pigs.
“Life has not been rosy for him and his family with what is happening in the country”.
As if to underscore the extent to which people are hungry in this country, few days ago, three young men were arrested by the police for killing an 85-year-old farmer in Iyin-Ekiti.
According to the police spokesman, Sunday Abutu, arrested suspects Ogunlusi Damilola, Olorunsola Segun and Sekoni Tunde specialized in attacking farmers and stealing their farm produce.
“During interrogation, the suspects confessed that they went to the octogenarian’s farm situated off lyin-Ado express road, attacked him with machete and carted away some tubers of yam”, the spokesman narrated.
“They confessed that on Tuesday, 27th of July, they entered another farm settlement at Ipole-Ekiti where one Awe Taiwo Julius was inflicted with serious injuries and ten tubers of yam were carted away in the process.”
Abutu said the 85-year-old victim later died while receiving treatment at Ekiti State Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti.
No doubt, recent policies by the Federal Government have exacerbated the economic situation in Nigeria, leading to the prices of foodstuffs hitting the roof; global political instability, occasioned by the Russian/Ukrainian war, is also contributory.
A recent report by the World Bank, in its newsletter, said over one billion people globally are on the brink of hunger. Majority of affected people are in the low and middle income countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
Quoting the July 2023 edition of the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) Market Monitor, the bank noted that geo-political tensions that threaten the Black Sea Grain Initiative, including the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine, were some of the factors that contributed to food shortages being experienced in some parts of the globe.
“The flooding and disruption of irrigation, along with the demand to reopen the pipeline, are increasing tensions and could lead to termination of the agreement, ultimately reducing Black Sea exports and undermining Ukraine’s production incentives”, the bank stated.
“On June 6, 2023, the catastrophic collapse of the Kakhovka Dam in southeastern Ukraine resulted in extensive flooding, posing a threat to drinking water supplies and raising concerns for agricultural areas that rely on the reservoir for irrigation.
“The Kakhovka dam and reservoir are crucial for agriculture, providing water through major irrigation canals to more than 500,000 hectares of farmland.
“The reservoir irrigates vast croplands that produce grains, oilseeds, vegetables, and fruits. “The dam’s collapse has caused significant flooding downstream, affecting more than 40,000 hectares of land and numerous towns and villages.
“Although the flooded agricultural area is relatively small, disconnection of the irrigation canals upstream has led to water scarcity for summer and winter crops, with implications for Ukraine’s agricultural exports”.
Russia and Ukraine are major wheat producers in the world and the war has led to significant increase in the price of flour and sugar.
The World Bank also noted that domestic food price inflation remains high around the world.
It went on, “Information from the latest month between February 2023 and May 2023 for which food price inflation data are available shows high inflation in most low- and middle-income countries, with inflation higher than 5% in 61.1% of low-income countries, 79.1% of lower-middle-income countries, and 70% of upper-middle-income countries, with many experiencing double-digit inflation.
“In addition, 78.9% of high-income countries are experiencing high food price inflation. The most-affected countries are Africa, North America, Latin America, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia. In real terms, food price inflation exceeded overall inflation in 79.8% of the 163 countries where data is available.”
Listing some of the steps it has taken to ameliorate the situation, the bank said in April last year, it announced plans to make available $30 billion over a period of 15 months, including $12 billion in new projects to tackle food security crisis.
“The financing is to scale up short- and long-term responses along four themes to boost food and nutrition security, reduce risks, and strengthen food systems: (i) support producers and consumers, (ii) facilitate increased trade in food and trade inputs, (iii) support vulnerable households, and (iv) invest in sustainable food and nutrition security.
“The Bank has achieved its target of making $30 billion commitment for food and nutrition security response.
Between April to December 2022, the Bank’s food and nutrition security commitments in new lending have passed the $12 billion mark – with almost half for Africa, which is one of the hardest hit regions by the food crisis.
“Some examples include: The $766 million West Africa Food Systems Resilience Program is working to increase preparedness against food insecurity and improve the resilience of food systems in West Africa. The program is increasing digital advisory services for agriculture and food crisis prevention and management, boosting adaption capacity of agriculture system actors, and investing in regional food market integration and trade to increase food security. An additional $345 million is currently under preparation for Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
“A $150 million grant for the second phase of the Yemen Food Security Response and Resilience Project, which will help address food insecurity, strengthen resilience and protect livelihoods. $50 million grant of additional financing for Tajikistan to mitigate food and nutrition insecurity impacts on households and enhance the overall resilience of the agriculture sector.
“A $125 million project in Jordan aims to strengthen the development the agriculture sector by enhancing its climate resilience, increasing competitiveness and inclusion, and ensuring medium- to long-term food security.
A $300 million project in Bolivia that will contribute to increasing food security, market access and the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices.
“A $315 million loan to support Chad, Ghana and Sierra Leone to increase their preparedness against food insecurity and to improve the resilience of their food systems.
“A $500 million Emergency Food Security and Resilience Support Project to bolster Egypt’s efforts to ensure that poor and vulnerable households have uninterrupted access to bread, help strengthen the country’s resilience to food crises, and support to reforms that will help improve nutritional outcomes.
“A $130 million loan for Tunisia, seeking to lessen the impact of the Ukraine war by financing vital soft wheat imports and providing emergency support to cover barley imports for dairy production and seeds for smallholder farmers for the upcoming planting season.
“The $2.3 billion Food Systems Resilience Program for Eastern and Southern Africa, helps countries in Eastern and Southern Africa increase the resilience of the region’s food systems and ability to tackle growing food insecurity. The program will enhance inter-agency food crisis response and also boost medium- and long-term efforts for resilient agricultural production, sustainable development of natural resources, expanded market access, and a greater focus on food systems resilience in policymaking.”
What hunger has turned people into
Suyi Ayodele, in his column ‘Tuesday Flat Out’ in the Nigerian Tribune, titled ‘Hunger, anger everywhere,’ wrote, “As you drive on our roads, spare a moment to look at the people standing by the roadsides. Also, check out the faces of those in your neighbourhoods. What do you see? You will see frustration written all over them. Husbands, wives, children; the old; the young, the able-bodied and the physically challenged, they are all united in frustration and despair.”
Quoting Samuel R. Berger, former National Security Advisor to President Bill Clinton of the United States of America from 1997 to 2001, he postulated that hunger breeds violence.
On April 21, this year, Chase Sova, a Senior Director of Public Policy and Research, at World Food Program USA (WFP USA), and Eilish Zembilci, former Programme Manager, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). In the piece, ‘Dangerously Hungry: The Link between Food Insecurity and Conflict’, they noted that “… it is true that hunger and food insecurity can lead to instability.”
As if to confirm the postulation that hunger breeds violence, few days ago, irate youths in Adamawa State took to the streets and looted government’s silos and warehouses and, in the process, five of them were shot dead. Vanguard
