The Federal Government is set to dispatch 60 trucks of fertilizer to each state in the federation as part of its efforts to tackle the ongoing food crisis in the country.
According to The PUNCH, this initiative was revealed by the Senate during Tuesday’s plenary session, where the body discussed the food crisis.
Additionally, each of the 109 senators will receive two trucks of fertilizer to distribute to farmers in their constituencies, while the 360 members of the House of Representatives will each get one truck for their constituencies.
They called on the Federal Government to hasten the fertilizer distribution process.
This call came after Senator Sunday Karimi of Kogi West moved a motion, co-sponsored by Senator Ali Ndume of Borno South, titled ‘Urgent Need to Address Food Insecurity and Market Exploitation of Consumables In Nigeria’.
The motion highlighted that in recent months, the prices of goods and household consumables have surged dramatically, leading to high inflation rates, weakened purchasing power, and deteriorating living conditions for many Nigerians.
Senator Karimi noted that the latest data from Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics indicated a significant rise in food inflation to 40.66% year-on-year, up from 24.82% in May 2023.
Karimi stated, “The current market price of food items such as beans, maize, rice paddy, yam, tomatoes, and onions, which initially rose by about 40 per cent after the removal of petroleum subsidy, has now increased to over 100 – 300 per cent without any attributable reason for the increase in prices.”
He added, “Although insecurity in food-producing regions, bad roads, increase in the cost of transportation attributable to the removal of fuel subsidy and depreciation of the value of naira are possible factors that have contributed to the increase in price of food items, household commodities, and consumables; the percentage of increase in cost of transportation and some under factors listed above is significantly less than the percentage increase in the current prices of goods all ever the country.”
Karimi lamented the lack of success in the Federal Government’s efforts to curb the continuous rise in food inflation.
He stressed the need for pragmatic approaches to tackle food insecurity, resolve herder-farmer conflicts, address kidnapping for ransom, and terrorism, and develop a viable National Commodity Board to regulate grain prices and eliminate artificial contributions to food and commodity inflation in Nigeria.
Senator Ndume expressed concern that Nigeria had, for the first time, been listed among countries facing severe food insecurity.
He stated, “Currently there are four countries, including Sudan and some others, that are facing very serious insecurity. Nigeria is added to this list this year by the International Rescue Committee as one of the spots for food insecurity action against hunger. World Food Programme also indicated that over 32 million people are expected to face a critical hunger crisis and emerging level between and August.”
He continued, “I don’t know about some other colleagues, but here in the North, we have started seeing it visibly. This is the first time we are experiencing this level of hunger. It’s the first time Nigeria is being listed as one of the countries with food insecurity.”
Former Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, highlighted the patience of Nigerians but warned that it was not limitless.
He remarked, “Our constituents are facing real anger. I travelled to states, that’s within the northern states and I’ve seen firsthand how people, especially those who are neither in the civil service nor in any business common everyday constituents, are suffering, fighting, struggling to have food even once in a day under normal circumstances. In the rainy season from maybe June up to September or October pending when there will be harvests, but now, the silos are empty, we don’t have anything in the silos.”
Lawan noted a report suggesting that the Federal Government is considering reducing or removing taxes on imported foodstuffs.
He urged immediate engagement with the executive to clarify the specifics, stressing that importing food would require foreign exchange, a process that needs careful management to ensure food availability.
He warned, “It is time that we take every possible action together with government to ensure that food flow in our country. The government must be entirely responsible because we cannot take people for granted for too long. People have come almost to the end of their patience.”
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Saliu Mustapha, informed the Senate that the Federal Government is indeed sending 60 trucks of fertilizer to each state, two trucks to each senatorial district, and one truck to each federal constituency.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio reiterated the need for proper monitoring of the fertilizer distribution to ensure it reaches the intended beneficiaries.
He stressed that the distribution should be free from political bias.
The Senate subsequently urged the Federal Government to urgently address the food crisis across the nation.
