Senate Asks Tinubu Govt To Address Looming Food Insecurity

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The Federal Government has being pushed by the Senate to act immediately to address the nation’s growing food insecurity.

Additionally, it encouraged the government to inform Nigerians about the steps taken to confront the crisis.

The motion on the urgent need to address food insecurity and market exploitation of consumables in Nigeria at plenary was adopted before the Senate’s resolution.

Senators Sunday Karimi (APC-Kogi) and Ali Ndume (APC-Borno) sponsored the motion.

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Karimi, who was the debate leader, stated that prices for products and home necessities in Nigeria had reached an all-time high in the previous few months.

He claimed that this was causing inflation to spike and reduce purchasing power and affecting the living conditions of the vast majority of Nigerians.

According to him, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently released data indicating that food inflation in the nation surged to 40.66 percent annually, a notable rise from the 24.82 percent reported in May 2023.

According to Karimi, the market price of food products like beans, maize, rice paddies, yams, tomatoes, and onions has increased to between 100 and 300 percent with no discernible cause for the increase in price, from an initial increase of roughly 40 percent following the removal of petroleum subsidies.

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He claimed that poor roads, a decline in the value of the Naira, insecurity in areas that produce food, and an increase in the cost of transit had all been cited as potential causes of the price increase of food items and other consumables.

But he added that the desire of retailers, traders, and merchants to make extraordinary profits was more likely to be the cause of the rise in food and consumable prices than any other aspect.

“Note that there is a general attitude of get rich quickly or get rich by all means.

“This is leading many Nigerians to jettison being their brother’s keeper” and exploiting one another to make abnormal profits.

“This attitude has been justified on the basis that many members of the political class, technocrats, and corporate elites have helped themselves with public funds without any repercussions in law.

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”Nigerian traders have thus resorted to price overcharging to maximize profits,” he said.

 

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