News in brief: Attahiru Bafarawa, a former Sokoto State governor, has warned that Nigeria may face food scarcity unless the government takes urgent measures to address the crisis. He emphasised the need for the government to prioritise food security and combat banditry disrupting agriculture and education in the North.
Nigerians may be heading towards food scarcity in the coming months, unless the federal government takes serious actions to avert the crisis. A former governor of Sokoto state, Attahiru Bafarawa, sounded this warning to newsmen during a media chat in his home town.
He called for the government to take stringent actions to tackle the imminent food shortage problems, while also lamenting the continued threat of terrorist groups in the North.
Bafarawa opined that the region has suffered from terror activities of sundry violent groups. These activities has effectively stunted the agricultural sector’s growth.
The PDP chieftain the federal government to focus more on finding lasting solutions to the banditry problems and also admonished the government to consider food security as topmost priority for the new administration.
In his words, “Instead of talking about cabinet, subsidy, and the economy, the government should consider food security.
“The bandits have refused to allow farmers to cultivate their crops. This is a very dangerous situation, not only because the bandits are killing people but also because the food scarcity is going to be too serious in the next few months, especially in the North West and North East. So, we want the government to wake up and do something about it.
“Also, with the way education is going, in the next 50 years, we are going to be very backward in education because most of the primary schools in the North have been closed because of banditry. There are no primary schools, no secondary schools and this is a serious disaster.
“The government should fight security, especially food insecurity, in the country because itâs a serious matter. Whatever the government is going to do, let the issue of food security be top priority.”
The activities of bandits, or non-state armed groups, have wreaked untold pain and hardship on the lives of many Nigerians. More than 453,000 people have been driven off their land by persistent insecurity, in the North West. The instability has also left nearly three million people critically food insecure â a figure that could increase to 4.3 million in the June to September lean season, aid agencies warn.
