Nigeria’s Food Crisis Gets Worse, FG Confused

 By Dele Sobowale

“Drought: Kogi Govt; farmers seek divine intervention.”

“Despite harvest, food prices remain high in Taraba.”

“Food crisis may worsen as flood hits 10 states.”

“SEMA seeks govt help as drought dry up crops in four states.”

“Why grains importation won’t happen soon, by stakeholders.”

Like a sudden heavy downpour and thunderstorm, destroying everything, the trope of bad news published on Monday, August 9, 2024, by newspapers, paint a grimmer picture of Nigeria’s imminent food prices this year.

Two tragedies unfolding simultaneously

“If a man stands with one foot in a bucket of boiling water, the other in a bucket of ice, statistically, he should be comfortable” – Anonymous (Vanguard Book Of Quotations, p 233)

Perhaps a national day of prayer needs to be organised, not just in Kogi and Sokoto to seek God’s intervention. As things stand right now, the Federal and State governments are totally powerless to prevent poor national harvests this year as the country is buffeted by the twin disasters farmers fear most – drought and flood. A third tragedy is lurking in the background which will be mentioned shortly. But, first let us deal with the known calamities.

The ten states hit by floods, so far, are: Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Taraba, Bauchi, Zamfara, Yobe, Sokoto and Kebbi. Those ten states, together, account for over 50 per cent of food production in Nigeria every year. The five other large food baskets not yet mentioned are: Niger, Benue, Adamawa, Plateau and Katsina. Borno State was once a large producer, but, Boko Haram has made farming a suicide mission there. Kogi and Kwara are battling with drought.

The ten states hit by floods, so far, are: Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Taraba, Bauchi, Zamfara, Yobe, Sokoto and Kebbi. Those ten states, together, account for over 50 per cent of food production in Nigeria every year. The five other large food baskets not yet mentioned are: Niger, Benue, Adamawa, Plateau and Katsina. Borno State was once a large producer, but, Boko Haram has made farming a suicide mission there. Kogi and Kwara are battling with drought.

Government’s response? Too little, too late, confused

Nigeria’s bastardised presidential federation has brought us to our current situation in which people in every state look up to the FG to provide food for them. In my ten years, living in the USA, there was never a day when the US President called all the 50 Governors to Washington to discuss how to provide food for Americans. Each state took care of production and distribution of food items based on the principle of comparative advantage. 

The States controlled the land and water resources, as well as supply of agricultural inputs; the Federal passed the bills and created the institutions providing support – finance, insurance, research, export promotion etc. No President of the USA would ever call all the Governors and announce food palliatives would be sent to their states. The Governors, even if they all attend, would think that the President needs to have his head examined. That is not his job.

Here in Nigeria, Governors have routinely out-sourced their responsibilities by leaving it to the President to provide rice, maize, sorghum, wheat etc. Our Presidents, in their quest for absolute power, have been too eager to oblige the lazy governors. The entire arrangement would not have deserved mention if it is working well. 

But, the evidence before us shows clearly that it is not. Back in the 1950s to 1960s, when none of the Premiers of the Eastern, Mid-Western, Northern and Western Regions could run to Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa for palliatives, Nigerians were not starving – and there was no crude oil revenue to pay for imports. Indeed, food imports e.g. corn beef and sardines etc, were left entirely to the private sector. We knew we had to produce food or starve.

Our current leaders – Presidents, Governors, legislators, Ministers are leading us the wrong way. They seem happy to turn all of us to beggars with palliatives. It will never work. No nation had achieved self-sufficiency and sustainable food security by making almajiris out of its people. Where is the leadership on food? 

I was a strong supporter of the President’s decision to allow limited importation of duty-free food items. Even, the list of food items first released was commendable. One item I would have added was infant milk powder. But, on the whole, it was a good step in the right direction – if speedily executed. 

Unfortunately, Tinubu’s penchant for talking first before thinking through the consequences of his utterances has got in the way again. The details of the implementation of the food importation policy which the FG released last week fell far short of what would have been required to make significant impact on acute hunger ravaging the nation with under-nourishment and outright starvation. 

“List of items covered by Executive order is: Husked brown rice, beans, millet, grain sorghum, maize and wheat” (Vanguard, August 19, 2024 p 1).

There is nothing wrong with the selection. Nobody who has had any experience with food consumption and production in Nigeria can fault the FG on that. The problem starts with the proposed list of importers of each item and the conditions laid down for their participation. Space does not allow me to cover all of them. So, permit me to focus only on rice.

According to reports: “It (the guidelines) provides that only companies that have the capacity to mill 100 tons per day and have been in business for at least five years will be allowed to import paddy rice. At the risk of being accused of parochialism, that policy, unless amended, misses the opportunity to reach millions in the Southern market.

Lagos State has a rice mill at Imota, which badly needs paddy rice in order to serve the entire South; but has not been in business for five years. Why transport paddy rice to the North and re-transport parboiled rice to the South when Lagos could get the job done at lower cost and offer less expensive rice?

*Dr. Sobowale is a commentator on public issues