By Emmanuel Osadebay
To gain the nutritional substances that provide energy for activities, growth and other functions of the body in keeping the immune system healthy, food is essential for a human being. The United Nations global facts show that in 2020, between 720 million and 811 million persons worldwide were suffering from hunger, roughly 161 million more than in 2019.
These were
some of the food and nutritional crisis that the United Nations Member States
envisaged when Goal 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals was adopted, which
seeks to end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and
people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and
sufficient food all year round by 2030.
In
Nigeria, all the indicators of undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting,
and child mortality combine to Nigeria’s ranking of 103 out of 121 countries
under the Global Hunger Index in 2022. The index indicates that 12.7 per cent
of the nation’s population is undernourished, 31.5 per cent of children under
five are stunted and 6.5 per cent of under-five children wasted.
With 133 million Nigerians reported to be multidimensionally poor, without access to basic necessities of life like food, education, quality healthcare, sanitation, nutrition, among others, it means 63 per cent of Nigerians are living within the extreme line of poverty. What then is Nigeria’s Zero Hunger policy and what strategies do we intend to create a country free of hunger in 2030 or at least in 2060 when Nigeria will be 100 years as a sovereign country?
How is Nigeria navigating
the effects of multiple global crisis such conflicts, COVID-19 pandemic,
climate change and growing inequalities converging to undermine global food
security? These are not questions that demand answers from the Federal
Government alone; these are questions that urgently demand sustainable
commitments from all stakeholders in the zero hunger ecosystem – governments,
private sector-led commitment to access to food, and non-profit organisations’
engagement in both holding leaders accountable on zero hunger policies and
providing food assistance to vulnerable communities.
To
ensure that the 133 million multidimensionally poor Nigerians do not continue
to go to bed hungry each day, the government must swiftly reduce the causes and
main drivers of hunger crisis such as insecurity and herder-farmers conflicts
in rural areas in Nigeria; and launch a national zero hunger policy and food
security strategy at all levels of government- federal, state and local. No
doubt,
Nigeria
has adopted a wide range of policy instruments and measures since the early
1970s but such food policies have not been as effective as intended. Take the
school feeding programme for instance, though the sound bite of the Federal
Government’s free school meals is theoretically good, the implementation can
only be effectively felt by the intended beneficiaries when it is
corruption-free and expanded to benefit more Nigerians within the poverty belt.
Such
policy plan must be specific on how to reduce the number of households
experiencing hunger and cut diet-related diseases by increasing access to
healthy food by 2030. There is so much that individuals and corporations can do
but the government has the key to end structural poverty and inequality,
particularly at the subnational level.
More importantly, the tool to achieving
sustainable solution to end hunger is to educate, empower and expand
opportunities for everyone. When one person, particularly the girl child at the
rural area is educated, it has a ripple effect that catalyzes to a far-reaching
impact on communities. Unless the country gives those living in hunger
unhindered access to quality education, it will be difficult to pull them out
of worsening poverty indexes.
Education, improved and mechanized
agriculture, healthcare and access to finance at the rural areas are crucial
resources that every nation needs to break its poverty cycle. To achieve a
sustainable result in this drive, Nigeria needs a disciplined deliberateness in
accountable, inclusive, humane, people-driven and transformational leadership
at all levels and spheres of our society, including in traditional and
religious spaces.
Collectively, we must make food an instrument
of social solution, both for the individual and society. Since we cannot have
food security without physical and environmental security, everyone must take
responsibility to ensure that poor and vulnerable Nigerians have access to
quality food. It is in line with this reasoning that the T200 Foundation brings
life-saving food and nutritional assistance to people affected by social
conflicts and people who are in need of food.
It is important for everyone to be involved
because a hungry nation is an angry nation. Zero hunger is possible and we must
make it happen.
*Emmanuel Osadebay is the Executive Director, T200 Foundation
No comments:
Post a Comment