Former Senate President, Ahmad Lawan has allayed fears of citizens revolting against the government at the backdrop of hunger pervading the land.
He stated this on Tuesday during plenary while contributing to a debate sponsored by Senator Sunday Karimi Steve representing Kogi West Senatorial District, titled, “Urgent Need to address Food Insecurity and Market Exploitation of Consumables in Nigeria”, saying citizens have exhausted their patience.
After commending the mover of the motion, Dr Lawan explained that Nigerians have exhausted their patience and may come after them, if nothing was done in quick time due to acute hunger.
“Let me commend the mover of this motion and also add here that patience, tolerance, they are both elastic but they are not eternally elastic.
Our constituents are facing real, real anger. I traveled to two states last week, in the north particularly, and I’ve seen first hand how people, especially those who are not in the civil service, nor in any business, are suffering, fighting, struggling to have food at least once in a day.
“Under normal circumstances, Mr. President, in the rainy season, from may be June up to September or October, when there will be harvests of new foodstuff, prices of foodstuff not expected to escalate, now we don’t even have that truth.”
“If you come and tell us, they will distribute foodstuff from our silos. The silos are empty, Mr. President. So it means we have to import food. And if we have to import, it means we need foreign exchange.
“And that is because we have to engage with administration. We have to help the administration. Mr. President, we are the most vulnerable in the leadership arrangements of this country.
“Members of the National Assembly, everybody looks up to Senators or members of the House of Representatives. In fact, people see Senators like the Messiahs. Any problem, they say, go for your Senator.
“So if we don’t take immediate action, we will lose the power and our citizens under the situation of increased fuel price, increased electricity price, increased everything and we are yet to get the right measures to provide questions for our constituents.
“We wouldn’t like the kind of thing that we see in our streets and it is time that we take every possible action to get out of the event of arm of government to ensure that food flood our country, the right food.
“If you come and tell us, they will distribute foodstuff from our silos. The silos are empty, Mr. President. So it means we have to import food. And if we have to import, it means we need foreign exchange.
“And that is because we have to engage with administration. We have to help the administration. Mr. President, we are the most vulnerable in the leadership arrangements of this country.
“Members of the National Assembly, everybody looks up to Senators or members of the House of Representatives. In fact, people see Senators like the Messiahs. Any problem, they say, go for your Senator.
“So if we don’t take immediate action, we will lose the power and our citizens under the situation of increased fuel price, increased electricity price, increased everything and we are yet to get the right measures to provide questions for our constituents.
“We wouldn’t like the kind of thing that we see in our streets and it is time that we take every possible action to get out of the event of arm of government to ensure that food flood our country, the right food.
Senator representing Borno South Senatorial District, Ali Ndume who co-sponsored the bill drew attention of the upper chamber to a report by Action Against Hunger World Food Program, which indicated “that over 32 million people are expected to face critical hunger crisis and emerging level between June and August in Nigeria.
He urged Senators to treat the bill with all sense of sincerity with a view to finding solution to hunger and hardship in the country to avert unforeseen eventualities.
He said: “I don’t know about some other countries, but there in the north, or here in the north, we have started seeing it visibly. People are hungry, very, very hungry.
“Many cannot go to their farms. All of us know this. In the North Central, the North East, and the North West. Even in South East, we still have crisis among the farmers and the herdsmen.
“Even in the South West, we still have this crisis. As it is now, a bag of rice is selling at about 100,000. A bag of maize, the same thing. Even prices of tomatoes, onions, and other basic food is high.”
“I believe all of us here are concerned because we are talking to one another. Let’s do something. The prayers of the motion is quite clear. If there need should be added. And because we have other motions to take on. I’m suggesting that we look at this and go to the prayers, support the motion wholeheartedly, go to the prayers, add what we need to add, and emphasize that this issue of food crisis should be taken more seriously.
“This is the first time Nigeria is being included in countries that are likely to face very, very serious food crisis.
In his opinion before adopting the resolution, Senate President Godswill Obot Akpabio attributed the cause of food scarcity to bandits in the North West, Boko Haram operation in the North East and Fulani herders clashes with farmers in Benue and around North Central for the past nine years now.
Akpabio said: “But my opinion is that it was a calamity or so when the bandits were pushing people from the farms, when the headers were pushing people from North Central, and bandits were pushing people from Katsina and Zamfara, from going into the farms, and of course, Borno, people moved to IDP camps and abandoned the farms.
“Tomato, wheat, millet, and all sorts of things that were being produced, we have had almost nine years of farmers not being able to access their farms.
“It was expected that after a while, there will be a serious scarcity of food in the country. So you are 100% right that Nigeria is now included among the countries that will experience very acute food shortage and there is no doubt that the government must rise to the occasion.”
