Recall that the state governor, Abdullahi Sule had promised to distribute rice to all students in the state to ameliorate the current economic situation in the country.
Sadly three students were stampeded to death while waiting for the commencement of the distribution scheduled at 8:00 am following the arrival of the governor.
Reacting to the unfortunate incident, Obi said such avoidable deaths have become a common recurrence and attributes it to bad leadership. He also recalled a similar stampede in Lagos state where seven Nigerians lost their lives while trying to buy rice at a cheaper rate from a customs warehouse.
“This is happening in a country that is richly blessed in human and natural resources, with vast arable lands for agriculture and the very worsening level of hunger in our nation has continued to claim the lives of innocent citizens,” Obi said While referencing the report by UNICEF a few weeks ago, indicating that about 31.5 million Nigerians will face acute hunger and severe food crisis between June and August 2024.
Hear him, “Nigeria should have no business with hunger and poverty if we the leaders were caring enough. It is unimaginable how we have sadly descended to a level where people now take unthinkable risks to survive.
“Now again, our children who were sent to study in a university, challenged by hunger, have lost their lives because of our national unproductively. I do hope that these ugly incidents will nudge our government into taking urgent measures to end the current food insecurity, by moving the nation from consumption to production.
“We cannot be accepting food aid from war-torn Ukraine, when we have the energetic population and vast uncultivated lands to feed our nation and the rest of Africa. Time has come for Nigerians to unite in purpose and solve the challenges facing us. Hunger, as I have maintained, knows no tribe or religion”.
I commiserate with the bereaved families of the deceased students, the entire Nasarawa State University and the government of Nasarawa State over this painful incident, may God give all of us the fortitude to bear this loss and grant them eternal rest, Obi said.
