Abuja expresses concern after FAO highlighted govt neglect of primary duty
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Abuja has expressed concern over the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report that 19.4 million Nigerians across 21 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) face hunger and two million children suffer from acute malnutrition.
Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Mohammed Abubakar expressed concern but urged citizens not to panic, saying the federal government is doing all it can to mitigate the food challenge.
He was speaking on the World Food Day in Abuja, where he insisted there is no food shortage, only prices have risen.
Abubakar said the food crisis has been exacerbated by coronavirus lockdowns, the Russia-Ukraine war which slows down shipment of agricultural raw materials, especially fertilizer, and flooding caused by climate change.
“Some of you might think COVID-19 is gone but the havoc it wreaked in the last few years is still here. Up till today, a lot of supply chain routes have not opened up.
“I just came back from the United States. I have been to different supermarkets; you will see empty shelves because up till now, they have not been able to get all the raw materials they need,” he explained said.
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Lingering impact of Covid
“I flew over Panama in South America when I went to Brazil about five weeks ago. I saw tonnes and tonnes of ships on the Panama Canal, waiting to pass through to deliver supplies.
“So, the havoc caused by COVID-19 is still there,” Abubakar stressed, per The Guardian.
“We know that we have some issues of insecurity. Production has dropped. But it is not significant enough that we should have a shortage of food.
“We don’t have shortage of food in Nigeria at this point. I want to make sure there is no shortage. But prices have risen.”
FAO Country Representative Fred Kafeero, who spoke on the theme, “Leave No One Behind: Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment and a Better Life”, stressed the need to do more to reverse the trend of hunger and malnutrition.