With the President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, declaring a state of emergency concerning the issue of food insecurity, Nigeria’s severe hunger crisis requires an immediate line of action. Africa Center for Strategic Studies says that 82 percent of the 149 million Africans who face acute food insecurity are in conflict-affected countries signifying that conflict is the primary driver of Africa’s food crisis.
Additionally, of the 38 African countries facing some level of acute food insecurity, roughly two-thirds are concentrated in five countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, and South Sudan—all of which experience some form of conflict.
Though a good lot of the continental increase in acute food insecurity in 2022 was a result of the conflict that broke out in Sudan and the deterioration of security in northern Nigeria, there are other factors that have influenced deteriorating food availability. From inadequate infrastructure, poor transportation networks, and the presence of logistical hurdles which is a major problem for transporting perishable goods to the cost of fuel that has escalated food inflation; the causes of Nigeria’s hunger crisis are complex. Peter Obi in a short speech to mark World Food Day 2023 on Monday, highlighted that “the vast fertile lands in the North, if put into productive agricultural use, could produce enough food for domestic consumption and exports.”
On Monday, 16th October, Bhupinder Tomar, the head of the delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in Abuja revealed the organization had initiated an emergency appeal to raise about N24 billion to support the Nigerian Red Cross Society in tackling the hunger crisis in Nigeria. While the aid could benefit up to 1,092,300 individuals it is only a short-term solution to tackling the hunger crisis if a system is not established.
