Need for 'State of Emergency' on Hunger
Over the last few months, there has been surge in hunger occasioned by online begging by Nigerians who live in sheer agony and suffering given the state of affairs of the nation.
Sunday Ehigiator writes that the pockets of hunger protests in some states has given rise the need to declare a state of emergency on ‘hunger in the land’
“T hese days, I now fear to post pictures, or open chats from friends or families on Facebook, WhatsApp, or any other social media platforms I belong, without first spying on the messages from my drop-down to be sure it’s not another, ‘Please I’m urgently in need of your assistance with N3,000’, a.k.a. ‘urgent 3k’ billing.
“The fear of billing is the beginning of wisdom. It’s like everyone on my contact list at the moment is a message away from billing you. Everyone is complaining of hunger, and inflation in the prices of food, and even water. It is like we are in the end times in Nigeria already,” cries out Akinwunmi Ayodele, a Nigerian university student.
In a voice video circulating online, some market women also cried out, while one said, “Things are too costly; we’re tired,” another fish seller grumbled. “A carton of Titus is N100,000; it used to cost N17,000. Kote fish is going for N60,000. Shawa, which we used to sell for N70, now goes for N700. Garri, which used to be N50, is now N700 for half paint bucket.”
This is the current state of Nigerians. Since the beginning of President Tinubu’s administration about nine months ago, prices of food and other commodities have continued to rise, including the Naira to Dollar rate, as hunger rules the land.
Spike in Cost of Food Prices
Inflation accelerated after President Bola Tinubu’s sudden announcement of the removal of the petrol subsidy in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, followed later by the CBN’s policy of floating the naira.
Though lauded by experts, the duo policies of Mr Tinubu have seen petrol prices rise from N145 per litre to N630, while the naira plunges against the naira in the parallel market, trading at about N1,500 to $1.
Nigerians have cried out over economic hardship with inflation and food prices spiking under Mr Tinubu’s watch. Earlier in the week, protests over soaring food prices rocked two northern states, Niger and Kano.
Some Yoruba market women in Ogun lambasted the president for promulgating economic policies that negatively affect the prices of goods and cause untold hardship for Nigerians, threatening to beat the president up if they saw him.
Tinubu acknowledged the country’s prevalent hardship but urged Nigerians to show understanding.
In December 2023, Tinubu in a public address said, “The financial re-engineering of our country is ongoing. We are determined to deliver Nigeria safely through the tunnel of hope, stability, and economic prosperity.”
Recently, fuji maestro Wasiu Ayinde, aka Kwam 1, also Tinubu’s praise singer during his campaign, cried out over economic hardship in the country.
“Nigerians are angry, traders are angry, why is kidnapping on the increase?” Kwam 1 sang, lamenting the naira freefall against the dollar.
As of the last update by the Food and Agriculture Organisation in December, food inflation was placed at 32.84 per cent. Nigerians are struggling to cope with the rising cost of food items in the country.
The most recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report shows that for November 2023, the year-on-year Food inflation rate was an increase of 8.72 per cent points from the November 2022 rate of 24.13 per cent.
The yearly spike in food inflation was driven by higher prices in categories such as Bread and Cereals, Oil and Fat, Potatoes, Yam and Other Tubers, Fish, Fruit, Meat, Vegetables, Coffee, Tea, and Cocoa.
On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate for November 2023 was 2.42 per cent, which was a 0.51 per cent increase compared to the October 2023 rate of 1.91 per cent.
The monthly increase in food inflation was linked to a rise in the rate of average prices for Bread and Cereals, Oil and Fat, Meat, Coffee, Tea, Cocoa, Potatoes, Yam, and Other Tubers.
The average cost of getting food and drinks has increased by 92.73 per cent in the past three years.
Also, the cost of cooking a meal is now about 73 per cent of the minimum wage for average Nigerian households as inflation bites hard.
Previous and Current Food Prices
A recent market survey by THISDAY, across major markets in Lagos state, including,
Daleko Rice Market, Mile 12, and Balogun Market revealed that a bag of rice which was sold for N35,000 nine months ago is now sold between N65,000 and N75,000.
A bag of yellow garri, which sold for N25,000, has jumped to N40,000, while white garri now sells for N30,000 against N13,000 for which it sold last year.
A bag of corn that sold for N19,000 last year May now sells for N66,000, a bag of Millet sold for N18,000 now sells for N55,000, while flour for baking and pastries sells for N50,000 against N28,000 for which it sold last year May.
A ‘long slate’ of ‘Titus’ (mackerel) now sells for N125,000 against N78,000 for which it sold last year. A square cartoon of ‘Titus’ sold for N38,000 the previous year now sells for N85,000, while a 25 litre of palm oil formerly sold for N31,000 now sells for N45,000. Indomitable which used to be sold for N3,950 per carton now sells at N7,200. A bag of Honey beans (50kg) used to be sold at N60,000, now sells at N97,000
Quest for ‘Urgent 3k'
No doubt, the rising cost of food, and inflation has had a huge impact on the living standards of many more Nigerians. This has also had an impact on the number of people who take to social media to beg people for money.
Before now, it was more common to see people begging for urgent 2k (urgent N2,000) online, but at the present day, the goal post has shifted to urgent 3k (urgent N3,000), because N2,000 can practically not cook or buy you a 3-square mean anymore in Nigeria.
More Nigerians have been further pushed to the poverty lane. It is said in popular parlance that there are now two economic classes in Nigeria, ‘the low-income earners and the ‘high-income’ earners. This is because the supposed middle-income earners, known as the middle class, have now fallen off the ladder to join the ‘low-income’ earners.
There is now a new class known as ‘No income earners’, who majorly fend off social media begging for urgent 3k’s all over the place, under several guises such as the need to pay house rent, school fees, and medical bills amongst others.
However, the underlying factor is they all beg to put food on their table. This also tells of the increasing number of beggars now scattered all around busy streets across the country.
This country is depressing. Very soon we will all start to see or hear people die of hunger along our streets with the way things are going if urgent care isn’t taken...Threesquare meals are now a luxury that I and my family can no longer afford. Please help us beg those in power... to reduce the cost of food in Nigeria