The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, has decried the high cost of food items across Nigeria, saying an average Nigerian household now spend all their on food alone.
Obi, in a signed statement posted on social media, revealed this against the backdrop of a UNICEF Cadre Harmonisé report, which projected that 31.5 million Nigerians are at risk of acute hunger by August 2024.
The Cadre Harmonisé is a unifying tool that helps to produce relevant, consensual, rigorous, and transparent analyses of current and projected food and nutrition situations. It classifies the severity of food and nutrition insecurity based on the international classification scale through an approach that refers to well-defined functions and protocols.
Expressing his concerns over the current economic and food crisis bedeviling the country, the former Anambra governor stated that Nigeria now ranks among the top 20 hungriest nations in the world.”
The situation has now become more complex with the high cost of living and high inflation rate, which pervades our economy. Today, with our ranking of 109 out of 125 countries measured on the Global Hunger Index, Nigeria is considered among the 20 hungriest nations in the world.
“Many Nigerian households now spend almost all their income on food alone, leaving all other family expenses to anyone’s imagination.” the statement partly reads.
Advising the government on a way out of the current crisis, Obi emphasized the need to switch the nation’s economy from consumption to a productive one.
He said, “I have consistently maintained that the surest way to fight hunger in Nigeria is by moving our nation from consumption to production, which entails aggressive investment in agriculture by fully exploring and cultivating the vast arable lands mostly in the Northern parts of the country.
“Now that we have been given notice of the impending danger – the additional number of Nigerians that will face hunger by June this year, I strongly urge that we work hard and put in place measures that will help us to avert it. We must take urgent steps to boost food production in the country to defeat the rising hunger and attendant anger in the nation.”
Concluding his thoughts, Obi urged the government to deal decisively with the scourge of insecurity, which has hindered many farmers across the country from accessing their farmlands.
“With the high level of insecurity and terror attacks in many parts of the country hindering farmers from their agricultural activities, and management of our monetary policies impacting negatively on small businesses in the agricultural sector, the government must secure the farmers and give them adequate support for increased food production. Building a productive Nigeria remains our focus in the New Nigeria, which is possible.” he stated.
