Good insecurity: Government must come up with viable interventions
Food indisputably remains salient among the basic human needs. No phantom alternative for this has been devised yet. Hence, men would continue to have need of food for sustenance and survival. The prime place of food among other human necessities has placed it in a position where more conscious efforts are directed towards making adequate provisions for it. Hence, proactive nations in the world have come to understand the need to blend conscious policies for robust food bank to maintain a virile profile of food security. This is largely perceivable from the potency of confusion that food insecurity could impact on human society. Behavioural studies have established that one very first struggle in the sequence of priorities of human need is deployed more on food necessity.
It is therefore indisputable that a hungry population houses high tensions from exhibition of aggressive tendencies by the inhabitants of a particular terrain. In this light, where a society is cut in the web of acute food scarcity, such would hardly enjoy relative peace and order as struggles by people chasing after the limited resources would assume aggressive dimensions which hold proclivities of uncivil behaviour with threats against meaningful coexistence.
In Nigeria, the threats of food insecurity have begun to grow on the Country. The prices of food staples in recent times have surged so high that hunger is now dealing and biting so hard on many who are reactively turning to inhumane channels to survive. The relative observation of the character of social formations has shown that as socio-economic conditions wax gross, the profile of criminal tendencies have worsened. Supply and demand of foods which is core in the perusal of socio-economic formations have assumed disturbing characters. The dimensions of local market reports have seen food staples rising above 300 percent. Such staples as beans, cassava flour (garri), yam, and rice, which are known to be commonly consumed by low income earners have soured so high that many are beginning to find it difficult to make ends-meets as purchasing power continue to suffer deep erosion.
Figures from recent reports by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have shown that food staples are standing at the leading drive of inflation profile in the Country. This is coming at the backdrop of sustained decline in the headline inflation numbers for the months of April and May 2021. It would be recalled that the headline inflation rate as reported by NBS dipped to 17.93% in May 2021 from 18.12% recorded in April 2021, which was also down from 18.17% recorded in March 2021. The NBS in its ‘Selected food prices watch for May 2021’ report, noted that though there was a general rise in food prices in the month, average price of beans (brown) across the nation increased astronomically by 58.28 per cent year-on-year and 15.94 per cent month-on-month,” while that of white beans rose by 61.96%. The report also stated that the: “Average price of garri went up nationally by 53.89 per cent YoY and 9.25 MoM, respectively.”
Meanwhile the NBS report also revealed the “selected food price watch data for May 2021 reflected that the average price of one dozen of agric eggs medium size increased year-on-year by 17.10 per cent and month-on-month by 2.10 per cent to N541.53 in May 2021 from N530.40 in April 2021; while the average price of piece of agric eggs medium size (price of one) increased year-on-year by 22.41 per cent and month-on-month by 1.72 per cent to N49.99 in May 2021 from N49.14 in April 2021.”
The report further showed that, “The average price of 1kg of tomato increased year-on-year by 9.09 per cent and month-on-month by 9.47 per cent to N303.51 in May 2021 from N277.26 in April 2021. The average price of 1kg of rice (imported high quality sold loose) increased year-on-year by 17.46 per cent and month-on-month by 0.65 per cent to N544.09 in May 2021 from N540.58 in April 2021. The average price of 1kg of yam tuber increased year-on-year by 13.96 per cent and month on month by 6.80 per cent to N269.98 in May 2021 from N252.80 in April 2021.”
Meanwhile, the Rice Processors Association of Nigeria (RIPAN), Kano State Chapter, has attributed the hike in price of rice from 19,000 to N23,000, to the increase in price of paddy rice. According to a report, a member of RIPAN, Alhaji Abba Dantata, stated this on Monday in Kano during a joint press briefing with Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC) over the hike in price of rice in the State. According to him, the high rate of foreign exchange and the difficulties in sourcing same for the maintainance of industrial machines, as well as the hike in price of diesel, also contributed to the high cost of rice.
He was quoted: “There is no way we can sell 50kg bag of rice below N23,000, cost of production is so high. From April to date, a ton of paddy rice, which used to cost N180,000, now costs N225,000. Some of us went to commercial banks to borrow money at 20 per cent, 22 per cent and 25 per cent interest, depending on the bank.”
The rate of inflation of food prices is practically moving towards the edge of frustration for majority of Nigerians. The social impacts of the limitations are beginning to deal huge blow on the Country. The ravaging effects of the prevailing conditions pose huge threats against the entire fabrics of the Nigerian society, which the Government should not afford to permit. It is glaring that the Country is sliding into the grasps of food crisis. The need for the Government to come up with interventions to salvage the situation is paramount. Such interventions should be synchronised with parameters to boost agricultural produces to address the apparent food insecurity emergencies. Hence, such interventions should be synchronised with long term policy thrust to achieve broad objectives while attending to acute short term needs. The impacts of the scourge of food insecurity is evidently posing threatening dangers to peaceful coexistence in the Country with ravaging effects breaking down the fabrics of the entire Country. Hence, the Government must rise to intervene with pragmatic measures as a matter of strategy to curb rising tension in the Country.
