A recent warning by the
presidency over imminent food crisis from January next year is belated,
self-indicting and puerile. It is merely re-echoing an alarm earlier raised by
farmers and stakeholders in the agro-business sector, who, the other day, decried
the incidence of hoarding and indiscriminate export of grains by produce
merchants. Although hoarding and arbitrary exportation of grains are a
dangerous recipe for food insecurity and attendant crises, the position of the
presidency that famine looms amidst claims of bumper harvest nationwide, is
obnoxious in the extreme.
It was the Senior Special
Assistant to the President on Media Matters, MallamGarbaShehu, who gave this
grim forecast in a radio interview in Kano recently, when he said: “The huge
demands for our grains in the global market is creating an excellent
environment for the mindless export of Nigerian grains across our borders and,
unless this is curtailed, Nigerian markets will be bereft of food by January
next year.” According to earlier reports on the issue, the desperation of the
produce merchants is highlighted by the strategy they adopt in their
enterprise. It was alleged that the merchants were no longer content with
waiting for grains to be brought to the markets, they were said to have followed
farmers to the farms and bought the crops off them right at the farms. From
Sokoto to Kaduna, and even the Middle Belt states of Benue and Plateau,
unfamiliar produce merchants including foreigners, have stormed farms
purchasing grains in massive quantities. Witnesses have also sighted
lorry-loads of grains heading towards the neighbouring countries of Niger,
Algeria, Mali, Republic of Benin and Chad.
The Minister of Agriculture, Mr.
AuduOgbe, also confirmed this development at a meeting with agro- businessmen
held in Abuja recently. In a lamentation that beggars belief, he was quoted to
have said: “You need to go to Kebbi now to see trucks from Niger, Chad, Mali,
Republic of Benin and Upper Volta loading grains. Your naira is so weak now
that our crops are the cheapest in the zone. By December, they will probably
exhaust the crops, then by January people will start crying.” The choice of
words by the minister – “your Naira…” is curious: Whose Naira? Whilst the
Presidency’s self righteous warning and minister’s lamentation are regrettable,
Nigerians want to believe that their comments are not political statements,
under which to hide government’s shortcomings and tardiness during the last and
outgoing agricultural year. It was clear from the outset that the planting
season began very late this year. Despite the fact that some experts in
agro-business had warned about an imminent food crisis occasioned by the late
planting of grains, many, including the government, seemed not to have heeded
to the warning. It is difficult, therefore, to understand how a bumper harvest
came about when planting was done haphazardly in the first place. Moreover,
business activities between produce merchants of neighbouringcountries and
farmers or middlemen are not new. That merchants are buying off grains in
droves and carting them away to other countries or hoarding them has been an
age-long practice. So, is the minister’s justification of famine a Straw man
argument? What is observable is the typical blame- game characteristic of
government establishments that talk down on people, or find excuses for ill
-prepared responses to crises. In this case, it is the weakened Naira, which
allows all manner of buyers to purchase our grains so cheaply that has been
adduced as a reason for the imminent famine. Although government has reacted to
the looming famine by asking the Ministry of Agriculture to present an
immediate plan for the purchase and storage of grains for the rainy day, it is
still pertinent that questions be raised about the response of the government
to the factors of food security. Why have our silos been empty before now? If
we had a bumper harvest of grains, or surplus produce as alleged by the
presidency, why were the grains not stored in silos? Is it the case that government
agriculture experts do not know what causes famine? Was there a bumper harvest?
Were grains really available as stated by officials? If so, how did we manage
the availability? How did we distribute them? How well did the authorities
manage storage for exigencies such as this? Rather than lament over its
inaction, the federal ministry of agriculture should facilitate the
establishment and promotion of agricultural cooperatives and farmers’ societies
by charging states and local governments to take food matter seriously. If
there is anywhere the much-touted principle of federalism is to be
demonstrated, it is in agricultural cooperatives and farmers’ societies, where
national policies on food and agriculture could get grassroots translation and
realisation. In situations such as the one befalling the nation in the far
North, there is a need to re-emphasise the role of farmers’ cooperatives and
societies in addressing food insecurity and reducing poverty. Besides creating
jobs for rural dwellers that form the bulk of food producers, agricultural
cooperatives provide the resources farmers would need for production as well as
the markets for their products. Furthermore, they provide platform for farmers
and agro-business persons to participate in the decision-making process that
affects the material wellbeing of the people. The Federal Government can also
address this problem by encouraging value-creation for the grains through
conversion to other useful products. The value of grains does not lie in being
mere staple for the people. Converting them to refined off-the-shelf foods,
animal feeds and industrial chemicals is an added value-chain for agro-
businesses. But this can only be meaningful with the presence of requisite
factors of production, especially power supply and good transportation network.
Therefore, not many would doubt that government did not act as responsively and
responsibly as it ought to, in this regard. If the constitutional provision
that security is the primary duty of government is anything to go by,
authorities and stakeholders would have envisaged the present situation and
would also have taken appropriate measures well in advance. The Federal
Government should not be the one raising any alarm. Warning Nigerians without
prior measures for redress is a pretentious reactionary stance by an
administration that either refused to act when the signs were visible, or
clueless about what to do.
Whichever way, there is nothing
demonstrating efficiency and capacity in merely announcing doomsday when
nothing was done to prevent it. That is inconsistent with its position of
ensuring security in the first place. It is for this reason that the
government’s alarm, which came through as outright grandstanding, is offensive.
Let’s move from rhetoric and grandiloquence to action that can lead to food
security in the country.
Okada Riders
“We will not condone okada riding
against traffic, especially those who ply their trade along Lagos-Abeokuta
Expressway and Ojota-Ikorodu Town and who use BRT restricted/reserve lane. All
these are not in sync with the law. There is a need for us to, at this time,
restate the provisions of the law so as to understand the premise of our
planned actions in this regard,”
“In line with this
administration’s plan to build a Lagos that works for all, we are determined to
engage with unions/associations of tricycle operators and okada operators to
ensure their members engage with us in the process of ensuring public safety.
“Our present concern is also
borne of the need to prevent accidents resulting from okada which is on the
increase currently. By implication, there are increased (death) cases of
causalities or maiming resulting therefrom; there is a surge in driving against
traffic by okada. We are also witnessing a huge increase in motorcycle-related
crime,” he averred.
ACP
ImohimEdgal
“Okada riders have assumed the
proportion of a serious epidemic in the society. They do not have regard for
the law, or obey traffic lights. Apart from the social menace, which they
constitute, they are also highly involved in criminal activities; they engage
in armed robbery and bag snatching.”
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