Hunger will hit 30 million Nigerians by 2025.
2 min read
According to a United Nations report released last week, there is a highly disturbing concern about the fate of more than 30 million Nigerians who according to the report will not be able to feed themselves in 2025. The report claimed that the development is a one third jump from the year 2024 as a result of food insecurity and economic hardship that are currently ravaging the country.
Fillers coming across Nigeria clearly show that economic hardship, sharp decline in farming as a result of terrorism and unpopular government policies have contributed to the present economic situation Nigerians face on daily basis.
Bola Tinubu who is the current president of the country removed petroleum subsidy on the day he assumed office on May 29, 2023 and that opened a Pandora’s Box for Nigerians economically. Umuaka Times reporters confirmed last week that already, many families no longer afford to eat once a day as prices of food and other items have risen up badly. The devaluation of Naira which last week sold for N1750 for 1 US Dollar has also worsened the hard times. Both Importation and production seriously crashed as a result of the reforms and unpopular policies by the APC-led Federal Government.
According to a survey conducted among 26 states in the country, 33.1 million Nigerians will face food insecurity by August 2025.The survey also confirmed that 24.8 million Nigerians will face hunger crisis by the end of 2024.
A statement in the report says: “Several factors are driving this trend, but most prominently are economic hardship coupled with record high inflation, a record rise in food prices and record high transportation costs.”
The spokesperson of World Food Program in Nigeria Chi Lael, told Reuters that “economic decisions to strengthen the country in the long term, in the short term have felt like a direct attack on people’s wallets, hitting hardest every time they try to buy food.”
Umuaka Times gathered that the Finance Minister, Wale Edun disclosed to newsmen that 5 million households across the country have already been given the sum of N25, 000 naira ($15.45), as a palliative to the most vulnerable families across the country.
Another factor Umuaka Times gathered that contributed to the ugly development was flooding which according to statistics has destroyed an estimated “1.6 million hectares of crops, mainly in the northern food basket states, potentially causing production losses of a combined 1.1 million tons for maize, sorghum and rice.”
The report concludes that “that is enough to meet the daily food needs of about 13 million people for a year.”
In a brief calculation ($1 = 1,618.2600 naira) the amount of money lost so far over the crisis is almost $1 billion. Many Nigerians are in trouble about the bleak future they face.
