Former Zambian President, Edgar Lungu, says the President Hakainde Hichilema’s administration committed a blunder by exporting maize despite early warning signs, leading to the current food crisis in the country.

Lungu, who made the accusation in a post on his Facebook page on Thursday, said the government had been forewarned about the 2022 drought while Zambia still had strategic maize reserves from the Patriotic Front administration.

He said rather than heed the warning, the Hichilema government went ahead to export the produce and are now falling into “denial mode” regarding the current situation.

The former leader criticized Hichilema for allegedly rejecting expert advice against exporting maize, attributing it to arrogance and a “know-it-all” attitude, and further accused his administration of exacerbating the situation through poor leadership.

He added that President Hichilema missed an opportunity during a recent press conference to apologize to Zambians for the exportation of maize reserves and the resultant starvation, describing the decision as prioritizing commerce over human life, calling it ethically inhumane.

“We are in this food crisis mainly because the current administration exported all our emergency food stocks, leaving no reserves for our people to feed on in times of drought like these today,” Lungu said in the post.

“When he addressed the nation, our president needed to share practical solutions to the current food crisis and disastrous drought,” Lungu noted.

He claimed that while six million Zambians faced starvation for the first time in nearly sixty years, President Hichilema was dramatizing the crisis and mocking citizens by stating he was not a magician who could feed them.

Lungu described the President’s gesture as being cruel, especially from a leader who had criticized the Patriotic Front’s efforts to ensure food security and made empty promises in 2021.

“In 2026, Zambians must bring back leaders who not only care for them but also respect human life and possess the experience to ensure food security and availability is a reality,” Lungu urged.

He stated that such leaders made basic commodities like mealie meal, sugar, salt, tomatoes, electricity, water, cooking oil, and petrol cheaper and more affordable.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the cost of healthy diet per day in Nigeria has gone beyond the reach of the common man as it stood at N1,041 in May.

The NBS, which revealed this on Friday in its Cost of Healthy Diet (CoHD) report for last month released in Abuja, said the CoHD in May increased by one percent compared to the N1,035 recorded in April.

According to the bureau, the CoHD was the least expensive combination of locally available items that met globally consistent food-based dietary guidelines, adding that the parameter was used as a measure of physical and economic access to healthy diets.

“This is a lower bound (or floor) of the cost per adult per day excluding the cost of transportation and meal preparation,” the report said.

“To compute the CoHD indicator, data on Retail Food Prices, Food Composition Data, and Healthy Diet Standards are required.

“In May, the average CoHD was highest in the South-West at N1,189 per adult per day, followed by the South-East at N1,190 per day.

“The lowest average CoHD was recorded in the North-West at N919 per adult per day.

“At the state level, Ebonyi, Abia and Anambra recorded the highest CoHD at N1,225, N1,215, and N1,205, respectively.

“Conversely, Kano recorded the lowest CoHD at N898, followed by Jigawa at N899, and Yobe and Katsina at N906.

“The CoHD in May 2024 is 32 percent higher than what was recorded in December 2023 at N786 and one percent higher than CoHD in April 2024, which was N1,035.

“The food groups that have driven the increases in CoHD the most are starchy staples, legumes, nuts and seeds, and animal source foods.

“On the other hand, vegetables and fruits recorded the lowest increase in price on a month-on-month basis,” it added.