May 30, 2008

Methodist head says urgent steps needed to stem Nigeria food crisis

The head of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, the Rev. Sunday Ola Makinde, has called on the Nigerian government to take urgent steps that will lead to the prevention of what some see as an impending food crisis in the country.

The Methodist leader, who is the bishop of Lagos, made his statement while speaking at the 26th Bishops' Council of the Methodist Church of Nigeria in Abakaliki, eastern Nigeria, earlier in May.

"Experts have been warning us of an impending famine and food crisis in Nigeria and indeed in the whole of Africa, yet nothing is being done towards averting it," Makinde said. He said the government must heed warnings by agricultural experts and scientists in Africa's most populous country. "Right now the prices of staple food items such as rice and gari [cassava oats] are rising at an alarming rate," he warned.

Nigeria 's minister of agriculture and water resources, Abba Sayyadi Ruma, was quoted by Nigeria's Leadership newspaper on May 25 as saying, however, that a food disaster was far away. He said Nigeria does not suffer from a food crisis but from the rising cost of a particular food item, rice.

The government minister said rice is closely associated with Nigeria's upper class and that it is now a problem because of the over-dependence on the food item by many Nigerians. He contended that the rise in the price of rice has affected other staple food items, but that Nigeria can cope. Sayyadi told the newspaper that Nigeria's President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua is committed to food security.

Makinde, who made his points before the agriculture minister was quoted, said: "God has bestowed us with fertile land in Nigeria." As a way of finding a lasting solution to the food crisis, he suggested the government should invest part of the nation's oil wealth in mechanised agricultural production.

Nigeria 's food price index has indicated a rise in prices of food items by about 25 per cent in the past three years. The country depends heavily on the importation of items like sugar, wheat, and rice. The prices of these food items have risen lately forcing the government to empty its 11,000 metric tonnes of grain from its strategic grain reserves across the country.

More disturbing, say some Nigerians, is that the price of bread, a common food item on the menu of almost every family in the country, is soaring. Bakers have been on strike to press the government to address the problems of price increases of wheat flour and other ingredients for baking bread.

The Guardian newspaper in Nigeria wrote in a recent editorial, "There is hunger in the land and a growing disquiet about the increasing cost of living."