Musings From Abroad

Food Crisis: UN warns that 82 million Nigerians at risk of hunger

Published

5 months ago

July 6, 2024

The United Nations has urged the Nigerian government to address climate change, pest infestations, and other risks to agricultural productivity after predicting, once more, that 82 million Nigerians, or around 64% of the nation’s population, may be hungry by 2030.

The forecast follows a sustained increase in the nation’s food costs. Nigeria’s food inflation rate surpassed the 40.53 increase from the previous month to a new high of 40.66% in May 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Since records have been kept in 1996, this spike in food costs constitutes the biggest annual increase. Nigerian food inflation has historically ranged from -17.50% in January 2000 to an average of 13.42%.

The Food and Agriculture Organization estimated in 2023 that between June and August of 2024, at least 2.6 million Nigerians in the states of Borno, Sokoto, and Zamfara, as well as the Federal Capital Territory, may experience a food crisis.

A government-led Cadre Harmonisé research published in March 2024 estimates that the number of people suffering from extreme food insecurity in the states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe is close to 4.8 million, the largest number in seven years. Additionally, organised labour expressed alarm about the nation’s escalating food costs and fuel scarcity as Nigerian workers celebrated May Day in 2024, claiming that the existing state of affairs threatened workers’ survival.

Olisa Agbakoba, a senior advocate for Nigeria, recently issued a warning that the country may soon see a hunger riot and urged the federal government to take immediate action.

The Food and Agriculture Organization’s resident humanitarian coordinator, Taofiq Braimoh, a UN representative, stated recently at the CropWatch Abuja launch: “The government of Nigeria, in collaboration with others, conducts an annual food security survey.” The results this year are concerning: over 80–82 million Nigerians are at risk of severe food crisis by 2030, and about 22 million may experience food insecurity in 2023.

“Nigeria, like many countries, grapples with food insecurity, climate change, unreliable water patterns, pest infestations, and other threats to agricultural productivity. As an agrarian society, our farms’ success directly impacts food availability for our population. Leveraging technology is crucial to strengthening our agriculture sector and ensuring food security.”

The continent has contributed approximately four per cent to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide – significantly less than countries like China and the United States. Yet, African nations rank among the most vulnerable to the repercussions of climate change.

Related Topics:Featured food crisis United Nations

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Musings From Abroad

Finnish court imprisons Nigeria’s Simon Ekpa for aiding terrorism

Published

3 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian separatist leader based abroad, has been placed under detention by the Päijät Häme District Court in Finland on suspicion of inciting others to commit acts of terrorism.

According to the local daily, Helsingin Sanomat, the court rendered the ruling on Thursday following his arraignment by the Central Criminal Police for his involvement in the terror attacks that have afflicted the southeast area of Nigeria.

“The police suspect that the man has promoted his efforts from Finland with means that have led to violence against civilians in the region of South-Eastern Nigeria,” stated Otto Hiltunen, the crime commissioner and investigation head.

“The man has carried out his activity, among other things, on his social media channels.”

Hiltunen also informed the court that the police suspected four additional individuals in Finland of funding Ekpa’s activities.

According to the story, Ekpa is of Nigerian descent and was born in the Finnish city of Lahti.

His offence occurred between August 23, 2021, and November 18, 2024, according to court documents cited in the publication.

Ekpa is not the only person the police have arrested. In February 2023, they caught him at a private Lahtian flat, but he was freed the same day.

Through the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, Ekpa has continued to be outspoken on social media, raising money and agitating for a Biafran nation to secede. In the southeast part of Nigeria, both factions have been involved in acts of violence, murders, and maimings.

Since gaining formal independence in 1960, Nigeria has seen the emergence of several separatist organisations. The latest surge of calls for self-determination among different ethnic groups has been louder under its immediate previous President Muhammadu Buhari.

Musings From Abroad

Malian singer Rokia Traore arrested in Italy, to be sent to Belgium

Published

23 hours ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

After Italy’s top court denied her appeal, well-known Malian singer, Rokia Traore, who was detained in Rome in June due to a global child custody dispute, will be sent over to Belgium in the next few days, her attorney announced on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Traore is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and one of Africa’s most well-known vocalists.

“Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her voice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,” lawyer Maddalena Del Re said in a statement to Reuters.

The attorney also stated that in its decision late Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation upheld an extradition decision from the European Court of Justice.

Under a European arrest order, Traore was taken into custody on June 20 at the Fiumicino airport in Rome. In October 2023, she was given a two-year prison sentence in Belgium related to a dispute over her daughter’s custody.

She had flown to perform outside Rome’s Colosseum, and she has been imprisoned in Civitavecchia, close to the Italian city, since her detention at Fiumicino.

Lawyer Del Re said that because a conviction was rendered without the defendant’s presence, the Belgian process goes against both international norms and Italian constitutional standards.

After she disregarded a court order to turn over her baby to her Belgian father, the singer’s divorced ex-partner, she was initially taken into custody in France in 2020 on a Belgian arrest warrant.

She disobeyed orders not to leave France until her extradition case was handled by taking a private jet to Mali months after being conditionally released. Mali is where her daughter resides.