Haruna Isa Jikamshi
4 July 2008
The global food crisis is indeed real and biting hard, especially in some developing countries, including Nigeria where many cannot afford three square meals a day. Reasons for the food crisis are not far to find. Possible causes are climate changes and the reality of global warming, especially in recent years, which affects the amount of annual rainfall and soil fertility. There are also human factors, particularly capitalistic tendencies in developed nations and lack of focus, commitment and sincerity of purpose amongst the leadership in developing countries like Nigeria.
In a statement published on the FAO website, its Director General, Jacques Diouf, said "the time for re-launching agriculture is now and the International Community should not miss the opportunity." According to him, "high commodity prices called for a twin-track approach, featuring policies and programs to assist the millions of poor whose livelihoods were at risk, and steps to help farmers in the developing world take advantage of the new situation".
While in many other countries concrete steps are being taken to address the situation and cushion the effects, in Nigeria however, it is an opportunity for some of our rulers to further line up their pockets through contract-awards, diversion of supplied commodities and distribution processes.
As part of measures to lessen the effects of global food crisis on Nigerians, the Federal government is said to have waived duties and levies on the importation of rice from now to October this year, as well as awarded contracts for the importation of large quantities of fertilizers. But some of the questions that beg asking are: who are the real beneficiaries of those contracts? And are the contracts also ten percent-free? Ten percent is an illegality that has been institutionalized in Nigeria just as use of fronts by some government officials in awarding contracts to self has become a tradition.
Governments at all levels are also subsidizing farming inputs, particularly fertilizers, but the real beneficiaries would not be genuine farmers. Instead, some officials, their friends, families and associates who will get allocations on paper only to sell it up at higher rates.
The same thing is happening at state and local government levels across the country. In my state, Katsina, for instance, the government purchased about 15, 000 metric tons of fertilizers for this farming season, as well as directed its 34 local government councils to also buy a reasonable quantity each for their areas. At the official launching of the sales, the state government ordered that a bag of the commodity be sold at one thousand five hundred naira (N1,500), but the committees trusted with the distribution and sale at various levels saw this as an opportunity to make a kill. Members of the committees not only reduced the official allocation of most communities and sold it up at exorbitant prices, but those at ward levels, including many village heads, openly charged more than the official price. And the same people parade themselves as leaders who care for the teaming commoners in our local communities.
The situation was even worse in my local government, Musawa, where some people reduced and diverted the official allocations for most wards, sharing just one bag among five to 10 farmers. Presently, a bag of fertilizer is selling for five thousand two hundred naira (N5,200) in the open market.
What the above scenario points to is that genuine farmers would either produce at higher costs or move away from the cultivation of crops like maize, which requires much fertilizer to yield, thereby increasing the food shortage or shooting the prices in the country through the roof. Adding insult to injury, the (Musawa) local government council recently allocated 15 bags of assorted grains to be shared among 3,000 households in my hometown (Jikamshi) as its own palliative to the biting food crisis.
More disturbing is the fact that most of those government officials who are using their positions to siphon our funds are not investing what they amass illegally in productive ventures that could improve the lives of others. Instead of investing in the country, they opt to stock the funds in foreign bank accounts.
Those considered as "good enough" among them sponsor tens of their families and friends to annual pilgrimage to the Holy Land, even though most of those being funded lack basic needs in their homes, let alone the knowledge to perform the religious rites.
It is indeed unfortunate that Nigeria, so blessed by nature, is having some of her citizens eat from dustbins and many others dying of malnutrition or curable illnesses because they cannot afford food and medicines due to the selfishness, moral decay and lack of fear of Allah by most of our so-called leaders. Poverty amidst plenty and many other bad things are associated with Nigeria.
As an optimist, I know the current situation, which is a creation of pervasive corruption, mismanagement and bad leadership, will not continue. As a first step, the mass majority who has been made prisoners in their own country must unite and ensure that in future elections only honest, committed, patriotic and God-fearing Nigerians become our representatives in government. The present cartel (or is it the cult group) basking in their loot and parading themselves as leaders must be checked by ensuring that we are allowed to exercise our fundamental rights of choosing those to govern us.
With slavery abolished and the White colonial masters gone, our destiny is in our hands and the black race's inhumanity against fellow blacks should be halted. Religious leaders should embark on sincere enlightenment on the virtues of honesty, selfless service, sincerity in leadership and the benefits of feeding the needy for Nigeria to overcome the myriad of problems, particularly hunger and starvation confronting the larger percentage of its citizenry.
Jikamshi wrote from Isa Kaita College of Education, Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State,
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