Residents in Katsina just like all the other states in Nigeria are expressing the pains of the high cost of food stuffs which had impacted badly on cost of living calling on the governor to prioritise policies that will reduce hunger and ease the plight of the common man.
Katsina residents commended the governor on the many good works he has executed already as well as the plans he had mapped out for Katsina state especially the infrastructural development, capacity development among others but insists that without tackling the hunger issue everything done will be as if nothing is done at all as long as the common man remain hungry.
UNICEF said millions of Katsina residents, especially children, are suffering from hunger, many are currently battling with acute food insecurity. According to the organisation, these people are spread across the 34 local governments of the state.
As a result of hunger, some unscrupulous residents are already taking to crimes while same hunger has forced others to join criminal gangs and take up arms. Bandits are recruiting more people with little token because the people have no other choice to ameliorate the hunger problem.
Convincingly, the current situation is different from the past when certain things define development and government intervention. Thirty-seven years ago, celebrating Katsina at 37 (September 23 2024), Katsina or even Nigeria at large is not the same as of today. Needs were different then and the needs of today are staring us in the face which is primarily hunger. Government cannot do what it did thirty-seven or ten years ago and expect to get the result needed today.
According to many residents, things are going from bad to worse and there is no hope for the next meal while eating the last meal for the common man.
Katsina has continued to battle food inflation blamed partly on food insufficiency and poor performance of the agricultural sector, although the problems is nationwide because the state governments’ commitment to agricultural sector is very poor of which Katsina state is not an exception.
According to reports monitored online by Katsina Mirror, Katsina state government budgeted the sum of N20.513 billion for its agricultural ministry however, N2.1 billion representing 10.1% was recorded as spent in the first six months of the year. Out of this amount, N1.8 billion was spent on capital expenditure for the agricultural sector. (Reports are available online HERE).
This shows a very poor performance which is a recurring results from the past year 2023 to the first quarter, second quarter and going forward of the current fiscal year based on available reports online signifying government lips service to ending hunger in the state because if hunger will end food production must increase to curtail food insufficiency which gave birth to high rise of food prices and food insecurity.
According to the World Food Programme, in the Northeastern Nigeria alone, 4.4 million persons are food insecure, 26.5 million persons are also projected to experience acute food hunger as of August 2024.
According to the Africa Development Bank, 97.2 million Nigerians are farmers while the Food and Agriculture Organization says 88% of farmers in Nigeria are smallholder farmers.
Experts argued that these farmers require more support to help Katsina and Nigeria at large achieve food sufficiency which is solely government responsibility through the agricultural sector while other donors like UN, World bank etc. are seen to be doing their possible best.
Katsina mirror in its earlier report applauds Governor Radda’s support for the World Bank-assisted project “Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria” (SPIN) during his high-level meeting with a delegation from the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, who were on a mission to inspect a newly established multi-billion naira Dam in Danja.
During that event, Governor Radda announced that the state government had already committed 500 million naira as its counterpart fund for the program, demonstrating the administration’s dedication to its effective implementation.
“Our focus will be on smaller dams and Fadama areas where a significant number of our people engage in irrigation activities,” the governor stated.
Explaining the state’s proactive measures, Governor Radda mentioned the recent establishment of the State Irrigation Management Authority and the assignment of experts to develop an irrigation master plan.
The common people will never enjoy or understand all these details and many more until the State Irrigation Management Authority, as an example, funded by the visiting donors, mentioned by the governor in the report begin to support farmers with the funds, educate farmers to the grassroots level to achieve greater yield in farm produce to meet the food sufficiency plan by the governor Radda’s administration.
More fund must go to the Agricultural sector, all agencies under Agricultural sector must show commitment to alleviating the hunger in the land in this last quarter of 2024 to fulfill the campaign promises to the people by allowing the sector to enjoy at least 85% as against the 8.2% recorded performance in the past months to meet up with the challenge of food production to counter food insecurity and eventually bring down food prices.
Right from the oil boom era, we have always downplay agriculture in our nation, young people understand agriculture to be the responsibility of the poorest in the society and a no go area for the elites and the educated in the society. Young people of that era then grew up to become the leaders today seeking investors in several sectors of the economy except agriculture because of the wrong notions imbibed from the youthful days.
What people wants now is what will touch life directly such as food which is currently insufficient causing the prices to skyrocket bringing the common man to unbearable hunger. The government must commit more to Agriculture, provide security for farmers, focus on agricultural incentives and extension services through government agencies providing platform for the private sectors to contribute massively to agriculture which is akin to improving agricultural yield, thus solving the immediate problem of the common man which is hunger.
for further correspondence email femiores@katsinamirror.ng