The Southern Nigerian People’s Mandate (SNPM) has blamed the escalating prices of foodstuff in Nigeria on the failure of President Bola Tinubu to show leadership.
In a reaction to the food price crisis in the country, the President and secretary of SNPM, Mr. Augustine Chukwudum and Mr. Segun Diya, said in a statement made available to Bushlink that President Tinubu has failed to fulfill his campaign promises of prioritising food production.
SNPM expressed fears that the current food crisis in the country could culminate in a disaster of unimaginable proportions that could leave the country in ruins if the President failed to address it urgently. “That is why we are reacting to this issue by calling on Mr. President to do something meaningful to eradicate hunger because you don’t expect someone who cannot afford three square meals a day to be happy while the people who are entrusted with our natural resources to manage are busy stealing billions of naira,” the group said.
It expressed regrets that Nigerian rulers in the past 60 years have not looked beyond the attractions of office and power to address basic issues that affect the people like food production and distribution. SNPM also called out the minister for deceiving the people with his statements intended to create a false sense of security on food. It said, “A few days ago the minister of agriculture lied to the world that his ministry had cultivated 300,000 hectares of farmlands across the country. Do you know the size of land mentioned by this minister is more than one state in southern part of Nigeria? That’s the kind of people President Tinubu appoints as ministers. Someone who will not be ashamed to lie in a country, where we are not visitors but residents and aborigines.”
Even if it were possible for there to be farmlands of that size to cultivate in the country, since Nigeria is blessed with a large expanse of arable land, SNPM said the government had failed in the area of issue of insecurity, which he said has terribly impaired the production of food among other things in Nigeria. It said, “This is a county where terrorists have chased away farmers from the farm and kidnapped farmers, killed farmers while those left are paying taxes to them so they can access their farms and yet our minister will not be ashamed to lie today in Nigeria.”
According to SNPM, “More than 50 percent of the farmers in northern part of the country which produces more than 85 percent of the food we consume cannot go to the farm anymore because of terrorists.” In that case, does it mean that all hope is lost? It believes that there is still hope for redemption. However, that hope can only be revived provided the government gives consideration to suggestions by the body.
One of the suggestions was for the President to strengthen the naira and make it to exchange for N200 to a dollar before the end of September this year. This they said will reduce the cost of agricultural equipment and transportation for farmers. They also called on President Tinubu to smoke out terrorists with the use of technology. “That is one of the major campaign promises he made before the 2023 general election.”
Reminding the president of his pledge, which the organisation said was yet to be carried out, they said, “To quote President Tinubu, ‘I will use drone to flush out terrorists. That is his promise, but we are yet to see it fulfilled. That is why we are calling on him to start immediately to end insecurity in the country.” They said with arable land abundant in the country, the federal government should give tractors to farmers to enable them to operate mechanised farming system.
The body is convinced that a step in this direction will ease the challenge of food production in the country. Hear them: “With this, our farmers will produce excess food to feed our country at affordable prices while the remaining will be processed and exported thereby creating more jobs and money for the people.”
Not only that, the SNPM expressed disappointment in the failure of the government to give support to farmers in mechanized farming, when the world has already dispensed with the crude implements that are the hallmark of farming in Nigeria. They said, “It is shameful that today, farmers are still using hoe to farm while smaller countries are using tractors. That’s why we are calling on the federal government to make tractors available to farmers?”
