Nigerians Groan Under High Costs Of Food Items – Opposition PDP Alerts President Buhari |The Source

By Ayodele Oni (With Additional Reports from Akinwale Kasali)

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has advised President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government to take urgent steps to address the worsening food insecurity and the attendant hunger and starvation across the Nation.

The PDP laments that under Buhari, over 82.9 million Nigerians could no longer afford  daily meals due to the failure of the administration to take practical steps to grow and protect the food sector.

According to the PDP in a statement by  its spokesman, Mr Kola Ologbodiyan, quoting statistics, the country now ranks  98 out of 107 in Global Hunger Index, 33.3 percent unemployment and 22.95 food inflation rates, as well as increased morbidity and mortality rates.

“Today, under the APC, a bag of rice which sold for N8,000 under the PDP now sells for N30,000, a measure of garri and beans which sold for N150 and N250 now sell for N500 and N800 respectively; a measure of maize and guinea corn which sold for about N150 now sells for N400, while a kilo of meat which sold for about N800 now sells for about N2,300.”

PDP blamed the current food crisis on failure of the APC administration to recalibrate our agricultural sector, as well as to take decisive steps to address the violence, terrorism and banditry in food production areas.

“Nigerians recall how the APC administration has remained insensitive to calls by our party and well-meaning Nigerians asking it to address the escalated violent attacks and killing of farmers, as well as livestock producers, by bandits, terrorists and criminal herders resulting in desertion of farms in various parts of our country.

“Nigerians can also recall the response of the APC administration to the beheading of 43 rice farmers in Borno State, wherein it heaped blames on the slain patriots instead of immediately tracking down their killers and ensuring the security of our farmers in the area.

“Under the APC and Buhari watch, our farmers now overflow in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps as their fields and farmhouses have been overrun by bandits and terrorists including political mercenaries brought into the country by the APC to assist in unleashing violence to rig the 2019 general elections.

“Moreover, escalated insecurity on our highways has also hampered production and distribution value chain, with no hope in sight.”

It further suggested to President Buhari to open the Nation’s silos to cushion the situation and push down prices.

“The Federal Government should also realign the agricultural sector by beefing up security in food production areas so that our farmers can return to the farmland.

“The PDP also believes that the time has come for President Buhari to provide direct stimuli to small businesses as incentive to pay salaries, revamp production and boost purchasing power.”

Insecurity has, in the main, kept farmers, nation-wide, away from their farms. When the rice farmers were slaughtered in Borno State, the Presidency had shocked Nigerians in a release by President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, when it blamed the farmers for not informing the Military before going to their farms.

In parts of the North, farmers routinely pay taxes and/or supply farm products  before they are allowed to go to the farm for harvesting.