The House of Representatives has urged the federal government to declare a state of emergency on staple food produce, and initiate a deliberate plan of averting any impending famine in the post COVID-19 era.
The House also urged the federal government to, as a matter of urgency, direct relevant agencies to forestall further smuggling of grains out of the country to neighboring countries, as well increase efforts of massive food storage in nationwide silos in an attempt to join other nations to save food for the future.
The resolutions of the lawmakers were sequel to the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Sani Bala at the plenary yesterday.
Moving the motion, Bala said the increasing rate of global food insecurity has caused countries like China to adopt an Action Plan on saving food, which signals the imperativeness of guarding our relatively diminishing harvest of food produce.
He said despite signals of impending global food shortages, the daily illegal movement of 40 to 50 trucks of millet, maize, guinea corn among other grains out of the country to neighbouring countries, further depletes Nigeria’s food bank, and is an attempt to increase the woes that may result from food crisis.
He said: “The House has taken cognizant of the fact that the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (UN-FAO) recently projected that an estimated 13 million people in Nigeria would face the risk of acute food insecurity in the next few months. Also the report revealed that the number of people in critical or worse phases of food insecurity may increase to about 16.9 million unless efforts are made to provide adequate support and government intervention to ensure recovery and resilience.
“Aware that the government has promoted massive agricultural development in recent times leading to closure of borders against the importation of some staple food in order to encourage adequate local production and food sufficiency. It is concerned that agricultural activities, production and its overall development in the country have been adversely affected by insurgency and banditry activities, especially in the northern parts, where bandits have taken over farmlands; cultivated farmlands and agricultural produce are burnt and destroyed; farmers have stopped going to their farmlands for fear of being killed or kidnapped, and in some other instances, farmers are taxed by bandits to access their farmlands.”
Adopting the motion, the House mandated its Committees on Agriculture Production and Services, Customs and Excise as well as Commerce to ensure compliance
