After admitting that 24.7 million Nigerians in 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, have been hit and incapacitated by food and nutrition crisis, the Federal Government is battling to stem the tide.
The figure is projected for between March and May 2024.
The Nigerian government also admitted in a report titled, Cadre Harmonize, CH-Phase 3, Food and Nutrition Insecurity Analysis for Nigeria, presented in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, and CILSS, at the ‘Results Presentation Workshop’, held in Abuja, that the figure may jump to 31.5 million from May to August.
That is not all.
The report also said that the number of IDPs across the country is expected to increase from 14, 000 to 83, 846 if measures are not put in place immediately to curb the trend..
According to the report, affected states under emergency in the North-East include Adamawa, Borno, Yobe and Bauchi while states in the North-West are Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto.
States under the pressure of food and nutrition crisis in the North-East include Taraba and Gombe; North-Central – Plateau, Nasarawa, Benue, Niger, Kogi, Kwara and the FCT; North-West – Kebbi, Jigawa, and Kano; South-West – Ogun and Lagos; and South-South – Cross River, Edo and Rivers.
Those with minimal impact are Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Imo, Akwa-Ibom, Ebonyi and Anambra.
In a remark at the presentation, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Temitope Fashedemi, represented by the Director, Special Duties, Adedayo Modupe, said the Federal Government was making efforts to address the situation with various agricultural interventions to boost food production across the country.
Indeed the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, had reported that food inflation was 33.93% in December 2023 compared to 26.98% when President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency on the agricultural sector.
Following various protests, including the one by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, that erupted across the country over high food prices, which led to attacks on trucks conveying food items and warehouses, Tinubu convened an emergency meeting to roll out interventions to cushion the impact of high food prices and hunger in the land.
On February 8, 2024, the President directed the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to immediately release 42,000 metric tonnes of grains, including maize, millet, and other commodities, from the national strategic grain reserves, during the meeting of the Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention.
Also, the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria has committed to releasing about 60,000 metric tonnes of rice into markets.
Tinubu, in a broadcast to the nation, announced several initiatives to arrest the soaring prices of food items and calm rising tempers, including supply of fertilisers to farmers and grains to households, increased protection for farmers, identification of 500,000 hectares of land for cultivation, enhanced synergy between the ministries charged with agriculture and water resources, and the elevation of food and water issues as remits of the National Security Council, and others.