The United Nations (UN) last week listed Nigeria among 10 countries that would be worst at risk of famine of “Biblical proportions” resulting from the current ravages of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Other countries are Syria, Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Haiti.
The Executive Director of the World Food Programme, David Beasley, warned that to avert a catastrophe, the world needs to take urgent action. The UN estimated that the number of people suffering from hunger would rise from 135 million to more than 250 million. The underlying causes of the huger in the different countries, it says, have been societal conflicts, economic crisis, and climate change.
The Fourth Yearly Global Report on Food Crises highlights the civil war in Yemen, which has been described as the world’s biggest humanitarian emergency. It also noted that in South Sudan, 61 per cent of the population faced starvation last year. Even before the Coronavirus pandemic, parts of East Africa and South Asia were already facing severe food shortages caused by drought and the worst locust infestation for decades.
Addressing the UN Security Council during a video conference on the impending crisis, Mr. Beasley urged the world to “act wisely and act fast,” while assuring the Council that with “our expertise and our partnerships, we can bring together the teams and the programmes necessary to make certain that COVID-19 pandemic does not become a human and food crisis catastrophe.” The WFP chief, who has just recovered from the COVIF-19 disease, noted that if not handled adroitly, millions of people could die in a matter of months. He said he was aware that donors are reeling from the steep financial cost of their own COVIF-19 crisis. They would not turn their backs on the most vulnerable, but he admitted, they would need to take stock at home first. He urged the world to work together “on the basis of facts, not fear” because, he said, the world would ultimately pay for this one way or another.
WFP senior economist, Arif Husaini, said the economic impact of the pandemic was potentially catastrophic for millions who are already “hanging on a thread. It is a hammer blow for millions more who can only eat if they earn a wage. The lockdowns and global economic recession have already decimated their nest eggs. It only needed one more shock to push them over the edge. We must act now to mitigate the impact of this global catastrophe.”
At the end of 2019, the number of people most in need of food (“acute hunger”) was 135 million, but with many countries around the world enforcing quarantine and lockdown, the number is likely to rise to 265 million, WFP said. Before the COVID-19 ever became an issue, it was obvious that 2020 would be facing the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II for a number of reasons, Beasley said last week. The organisation received $8.3 billion in 2019. This year, it would need $10-12 billion to sustain its operations for this year.
The alerts by the UN agencies are stark and unvarnished. The ball is now in the court of world leaders, whether to let anyone die of hunger in a world full of food. Past experience, study after study have taught us that people only die of hunger when the leaders are negligent, or reticent about the fate of their people for fear of political embarrassment.
We urge the federal and state governments to heed the warning by the UN. Nigeria’s food situation is bound to deteriorate given the precarious security situation in the country. The scariest part is the almost unspoken reality that farmers can no longer go to their farms in many parts of Nigeria without the fear that they could be assaulted, kidnapped or even killed by herdsmen. Last week, two incidents in Delta and Edo states reminded the nation of this dangerous but barely discussed situation. Nigeria’s farming has been confined to homesteads and yard cultivation, which would never produce anything close to enough food for the country. The issue of the herdsmen has been swept under the rug in the southern states. In the northern states, bandits and cattle rustlers are making life unbearable for farmers and cattle rearers.
The nation continues to hope for an articulated policy on agriculture that would go a long way in truly diversifying the Nigerian economy. The COVID-19 is one reminder that the country has no alternative to diversifying its economy and investing considerably more in agriculture. Not only would it provide vitally needed jobs but also make Nigeria more secure in terms of food security.
