By Dele Sobowale
“Many people sold their boys and girls for a little rice…Hunger stalked us…People of all ages began to die….Everyone had to live with half-empty stomachs …People started looting, searching for food” – Bijoykrishna, survivor of the Bengal famine in 1943 (BBC, February 23, 2023)
The old man talking is reported to be 102 years old and one of the few survivors of the famine which killed millions in Bengal while World War II raged on around them. The savagery of the war and extremely bad weather resulted in horrible harvests. Suddenly, parents were “eating” their kids. Or what do you call selling your children to buy food? It happened in Bengal in 1943; it can happen anywhere – including Nigeria.
We are
aware that some parents in Nigeria have been selling their children; heartless
people run baby factories or phony orphanages as regular means of employment.
It might not have reached the alarming proportions experienced in Bengal in the
last century. But, the truth is – some adult Nigerians are already eating
children. That preamble is, however, meant to draw the readers’ attention
to the dangers we face as a nation with regard to food and famine.
To be candid, government at all
levels is not being honest with us. Irrespective of which political party is in
power at federal and state levels, their reactions to the looming famine is,
frankly speaking, shocking. Millions of Nigerian lives are at stake.
Perhaps it is only a coincidence that the FG, which encouraged herdsmen and
bandits to drive millions of farmers off the field, was headed by Mohammadu
Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC – whose symbol is the broom.
Present and future historians,
writing about how we ended up in this terrible situation, in which most
Nigerians now live with half-empty stomachs, must lay the blame squarely on the
door step of Buhari and the APC National Secretariat. Buhari started the
demolition job on our farms; and none of the members called him out. One
official actually had the effrontery to go on television to offer fellow
Nigerians the Devil’s alternative – your land or your life. That was the
audacity of infamy which has landed us where we are with regard to food
production. No nation can live with lunacy for eight years without finally
living on the bread of sorrow. We are now going to start dying like flies,
swatted by a broom!!!
Forget The Lies About Food Palliatives
“Every
government is run by liars; and nothing they say should be believed”
– I F Stone
Can anyone remember how many
tonnes of palliatives were promised Nigerians in September last year? And do
you remember that Governor Soludo, APGA, speaking on behalf of the FG and State
Governors, announced that N5 billion would be given to each state? On account
of a conspiracy of silence, Nigerians were not informed that only N2 billion
was actually delivered and not all the grains either. That should tell you the
sort of leaders we are dealing with – they cannot be trusted to keep their
words. That is why they have more Commissioners of Information and Special
Advisers (Media) than the Premiers of East, North and West had during the First
Republic. They are not appointed to shed light on issues but to confuse
Nigerians. Here is an example.
The Minister of Information and
Culture, Mohammed Idris, in mid-February this year, announced that President
Tinubu had “ordered 102,000 metric tonnes of grains to be released from the
National Reserves”. A week after, in my Monday article, titled FG AND THE
102,000 tonnes food swindle, I traced several promises previously made by this
government. None of them had been fully redeemed. Given my knowledge about the
National Food Reserves, I concluded that article by stating: “I doubt if the FG
has 102,000 tonnes of food in its reserves.”
On Thursday, February 22, 2023,
Mr Idris, in a manner reminding us of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, changed the
narrative. This time we were told: “The first one is that the Ministry of
Agriculture and Food Security has been directed to release about
(underlying mine) 42,000 MT of maize, millet, garri and other commodities in
their strategic reserves so that these items will be made available to
Nigerians; 42,000MT immediately.” The careful reader cannot fail
to observe how 102,000MT, pledged two weeks earlier, shrank to 42,000MT to be
released suddenly. What happened to the remaining 60,000MT of food stuff
promised earlier?
The story has changed on those too. According to the latest announcement from Idris, which might not be the last, “we have held meetings with the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN), those who are responsible for this rice, and we have asked them to open up their stores…They have told us that they can guarantee about 60,000 tonnes of rice. They will make that available to Nigerians…” Again, a discernible reader can easily arrive at three obvious conclusions.
One, the FG
did not have 102,000MT of grains in its reserves when the first announcement
was made. Two, the government will even have to struggle to provide the about
42,000MT. Three, the 60,000MT of rice is uncertain of delivery; for the simple
reason that there is no guarantee from RIMAN to deliver 60,000MT of rice.
Instead of
the deliberate attempt by the FG to deceive Nigerians, RIMAN’s position on the
matter is quite clear. According to the RIMAN President: “No, no, no, we don’t
have enough paddy in this country. Farmers lack enough paddy to sell. A lot of
farmers have withdrawn services on the farms due to insecurity. This is in
addition to the effects of fuel subsidy removal.” Obviously, Mr Idris is once
again spreading falsehood in order to buy time for the FG. I know who is lying
on this issue because I spent years in the rice sector and some of my friends
are still in it. They tell me the truth because I advise them on investing –
when they make profits.
That, unfortunately, takes us to
the heart of the matter. Nigerians are now dying like flies swatted by a broom;
and most of the FG’s utterances have proved to be untrue. How on earth can
Tinubu plead for more time when his Ministers are busy telling us lies? To be
candid, few will believe him – even if elder statesmen like Gowon plead for
him. The people want the truth – no matter how bad. Only faith in their leaders
or tyranny can make the people in a country endure years of great hardship as
in China and India.
The Consequences Are Already Here
“Death is here
and death is there/Death is busy everywhere…” – Percy
Byshe Shelley
People have always died, everyday, every hour, every minute and every second. Death by itself is not new. At almost 80, I am in sudden death period; so is everybody over 70 in Nigeria, where life expectancy is still about 52. So what makes death so special now? It is the spike in death rates. In about 70 years, since I first became aware of the consequences of death, in no single year was it brought to my attention that up to four people known to me died in one month.
The rise in
death rate first attracted my attention in December last year when seven people
were reported to have died. In January, the figure rose to nine. There was
acceleration in February. Today, February 25, 2023, as this article is being
written, the number stands at thirteen. Four of my CLUB members and a close
cousin have passed on in less than six weeks.
So, it was time to
investigate – at the mortuary, at the cemeteries and talking to casket sellers.
With four friends as undertakers or casket sellers, it was easy to establish
that, for them, business is booming like never before. The only problem they
have is with the low profile approach people now take to burials. Most families
no longer buy expensive caskets. Times are hard.
A few of the recently departed
souls were confronted with choosing between buying life-saving drugs or eating.
There were no funds for the two. They opted for food. At least two told me that
before leaving us to our self-inflicted problems of food, drugs and other
scarcities and the inflation resulting from too much demand chasing
insufficient supply.
The investigations confirmed my
intuition. There has been a noticeable rise in burials in all the cemeteries in
Lagos – involving all ages from babies a few days old to the aged. A twenty
three years old attendant told me, “We have never buried so many people in a
month as we are doing now. A pathologist said most of those they open up to
find cause of death have next to nothing in their stomachs. So, hunger must
have contributed to their demise.”
That is the truth we face; and
which governments – FG, states and even local governments must face. Back to
the land is no longer a slogan. It is the only way we can save Nigerians from
dying like flies swatted by a broom.
Fund Me To Write The Truth About Buhari
“Wherever God
erects a house of prayer; the Devil always builds a Chapel there…”
– Daniel Defoe, 1661-1731.
One Pastor from the Devil’s
Chapel went to work for Buhari for eight years. While in residence at the Rock,
which we have been told was overrun by demons by a previous lodger, the Pastor,
on live TV, supported the slaughter of thousands of farmers who refused to
surrender their land to herdsmen. Now he has joined others who inhabited the
dungeon to write books about Buhari’s “achievements”.
In their books, you will not read about how herdsmen militia, about 400,000 armed assassins, was created to capture Nigeria. They are everywhere in Nigeria today — killing, kidnapping, raping and making farming impossible. Their Life Patron lives in peace in Daura. About 380,000 Nigerians have paid with their lives for this particular “achievement”.
But, Pastor won’t tell you the truth about herdsmen
genocide. I will. I started my own book two years ago; funding it myself.
Now, I am stuck. Inflation and exchange rate threaten publication of the truth
about Buhari. I need your help to finish the job.
Their book, packed full of lies,
is advertised for N200,000. I can deliver the truth for N20,000 or less. Can
you help? Please get in touch.
*Dr. Sobowale is a syndicated columnist
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