Nigeria: Snaking Through Food Crisis

Behind the world summits on food crisis, in the backgrounds of parliamentary deliberations on the hunger strikes, and in the shadows of the Federal Executive meetings on the acute food shortages and soaring food prices, a cruel reality is taking shape in scores of impoverished homes. The impact of the crunch on poor families in Dagba, an extension of Durumi, a shanty town on the edge of Area One, Abuja, shows evidence of gnawing claws of hunger on helpless victims.

The food crisis may yet be another cow for high profile politicians to milk. For white collar workers, it is just another of the numerous economic crisis that has been slashing deep into their savings and they would soon get adjusted. But for the poor man and his family, it is an untold story of hunger and starvation. It is a dark period, much dreaded than the one in Mtshali's Soweto. Robert Zoellick, World Bank President saw this clearly when he urged world leaders thus: "as leaders gather in Rome to discuss global food crisis, our task is clear but not simple: to help those in danger today and ensure that the poor do not suffer this tragedy again".

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