Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, has identified insecurity and climate change as factors responsible for food shortages in the country.
Speaking while inaugurating the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, Abbas identified the absence of mechanised farming method as part of the challenges faced by Nigerians, while also expressing concern over reports from the World Food Programme (WFP) of ‘Nigeria Hunger Map’ which estimated that 24.9 million Nigerians are in an acute or critical stage of hunger.
The report, released in September 2023 further stated that while 85.8 million Nigerians have insufficient food consumption, 47.7 million Nigerians resort to crisis-level or above-crisis-level food-based coping strategies, a development Abbas said, paints a very gloomy picture requiring urgent legislative action.
“The food and nutrition crisis affecting us as a nation is partly caused by global warming and climate change, pervasive insecurity across the country which prevents farmers and herders from engaging in their various agricultural activities, poor irrigation, outdated land tenure system, crude and traditional farm practices on subsistence levels as well as a myriad of other challenges,” the speaker who was represented by the Majority Leader, Prof Julius Ihonvbere, stated.
He added that the parliament’s intervention was “crucial and urgent in the face of rising food prices and high cost of living occasioned by the withdrawal of government subsidy on petroleum products. I urge this committee to enlist the support and collaboration or relevant stakeholders to achieve success in the overall interest of Nigeria.”
Chairman of the committee, Hon. Chike Okafor, while addressing stakeholders urged for the needed collaboration of all, to ensure the country addresses the nutritional challenges facing citizens.
