When soldiers invaded Yola church
Anew United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisations report, the Cadre Harmonisé, was released last Friday with a summary that 7.3 million people in 16 northern states of Nigeria may experience food crisis from June to August 2017 and over 1.4 million people may be in an emergency situation while 50,051 others may be in famine within the period.
The Cadre Harmonisé is a regional framework aimed at preventing food crisis by quickly identifying affected populations and proffering appropriate measures to improve their food and nutrition security.
The March 2017 report was conducted under the lead of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and FAO Nigeria and drew over 40 experts from national institutions (including the National Bureau of Statistics and state ministries of agriculture and health) and UN agencies as well as donor partners and international NGOs.
The analysis covering 16 states of Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Kastina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Gombe, Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Niger, Taraba, Zamfara, Benue, Jigawa, revealed that at present (MarchMay), over 5.6 million people in the states are in crisis situation and over 1.3 million people are currently in an emergency situation with 43,894 already facing famine.
Borno, Adamawa and Yobe were said to be worst hit as they are the only states among the 16 in emergency and famine situations.
David Patrick, FAO Nigeria Officer, who spoke during the presentation of the report in Abuja,
Tsaid, “The Cadre Harmonise analysis carried out this month reveals that about seven million people are still food insecure in the 16 states covered by the analysis. This corresponds to a decrease compared to the last analysis Cadre Harmonise carried out last October 2016.”
However, the situation remains critical in the three North-east states affected and the technical experts recommend the strengthening of food and livelihoods assistance to save lives and restore livelihoods of the most affected population.
David Patrick stressed that assisting the most vulnerable people and increasing households’ resilience to food security threats would contribute to saving many lives.
The report pointed out that food insecurity is expected to deteriorate from July to August 2017 due to the lean season and the number of people facing food crisis would increase in the 16 states as well as the populations in emergency and famine (CH Phase 4-5) in the three most affected states.
The report attributed the food insecurity in the country to the consequences of conflicts in the North-eastern states, which have led to an increased IDPs influx and movement, as well as disruption of market supply and infrastructure, compounded with high food prices caused by currency inflation which has significantly limited the populations’ access to food.
Already, there have been reported cases of severe malnutrition in some of the IDPs camps, especially in Borno State. The Deputy Country Director, World Food Program, Douglas Mercado, noted that WFP believes he 23rd Amour Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Yola, Adamawa State, is investigating those behind a confusion at the Assemblies of God Church in the town during a church service penultimate Sunday when armed soldiers barricaded the building.
The worshippers had gathered for service when a military van stopped at the gate and about a dozen armed soldiers and a mobile police man blocked the gate.
A female worshipper, Blessing Ayim, said she was inside the church when she realised that there was commotion at the gate and rushed out, saying the sight of combat-ready soldiers caused panic.
“Many people left because nobody knew what would happen. Only the courageous among us stayed,” she stated.
The pastor of the church, Rev. Patrick Waziri, said the soldiers threatened to shoot him when he approached them to ask questions on their mission.
According to him, many of the soldiers were not wearing name tags, and it took the intervention of the DPO in charge of Karewa Division who drove to the scene to save the situation.
“We met with the Brigade Commander and he told us that the uniformed men might be fake soldiers because they did not send any soldier to the church”, he added. that the Cadre Harmonise would provide the basis for them to work with, identifying the hard affected states aside Borno and Yobe, so as to scale up assistance to the states.
The situation seems to be frightening with the recent forecast by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) that the predicted rainfall amount is expected to be below normal in Yobe, Kano, Bauchi, Gombe, Kebbi, Plateau, Taraba, Benue and Kogi, among others.
This, it said, would affect food production this year.
According to MiMet’s DirectorGeneral, Prof. Sani Abubakar Mashi, “Food production is expected to be less than normal due
But Rev. Waziri alleged that the soldiers were hired by a factional leader in the church, Rev Thomas Taro, to remove him (Waziri) and install a new pastor from another faction.
He noted that the national headquarters of the church in Enugu had been embroiled in crisis between two factions led by Prof. Paul to shorter growing season length over large parts of the country.
An agriculturist, Toyin James, urged policy makers not to waveoff the UN and NiMet projections but put necessary measures in place to avert such situations.
“Early distribution of inputs like fertiliser, improved seedlings and other agro-chemicals to farmers would go a long way to address the forecast’s ugly situations,’’ he said.
On how to reduce the impact of the projection, FAO in the report called for scaling up of emergency humanitarian assistance to improve food and nutrition security.
It also called for strengthening the ongoing responses to Emeka and Rev. Chidi Okoroafor.
Waziri said Taro, who belonged to the Okoroafor group, misinterpreted a court judgment which struck out a case filed against his faction, thinking that the court gave them victory, so he invited soldiers to enforce the judgment and remove the leadership in Yola. malnutrition in the 16 states, particularly in the three North-east states before the next lean season as well as improved food access for the poor, especially those living in the remote areas.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, had earlier denied reports by some United Nations (UN) agencies of imminent famine in Nigeria, saying there was no threat of starvation in the country.
The minister, who spoke at a News Agency of Nigeria Forum in Abuja, said it was virtually impossible for Nigeria to face famine or starvation because the country remained a major source of food for other African countries.
Waziri noted that since the Supreme Court judgment did not give any party victory, things should remain the same.
“He (Taro) needs to know that he is not the one to enforce the court judgment whenever the need arises, the presence of the military was totally uncalled for. Most people have identified the need for the review of our constitution which is obvious to safeguard such happenings in future”, he said.
Authorities at the 23rd Amour Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Yola said they had commenced an investigation into the incident.
The spokesman, Maj. Adamu Ngulde, said no soldier was deployed to the church, and the brigade was doing its best to get the identities of the culprits.
“The church told us that the men were not wearing name tags. We contacted our officer in charge of counter-insurgency as well as security in the town and he said he did not deploy soldiers to any operation in the church. Besides, no civilian has the right to invite soldiers into a civil matter like this,” Ngulde said.
He said the military had already met with the church leadership and was looking for Rev. Thomas Taro who was said to have invited the uniformed men. When contacted, Rev. Taro said he would not speak to the press until he contacts the national headquarters of the church.