It is a general saying that a hungry man is an angry man. When this statement is broadened to a higher level, you discover that a hungry nation is an angry, troubled, and chaotic nation.
Currently, Nigeria is a hungry country because Nigerians are starving. No region or geopolitical zone in Nigeria is spared from the ongoing hunger in the land.
On the 16th of January 2023, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that nearly 25 million Nigerians are at risk of facing hunger between June and August 2023 (lean season) if urgent action is not taken.
Back then, it was reported persistent violence in the north-east states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe (BAY) have affected that food access and armed banditry and kidnapping in states such as Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna, Benue, and Niger.
According to the National Emergency Management Agency, widespread flooding in the 2022 rainy season damaged over 676,000 hectares of farmlands, which diminished harvests and increased the risk of food insecurity for families across the country.
NEMA said the flooding is one effect of climate change and variability impacting Nigeria. More extreme weather patterns affecting food security are anticipated in the future.
The United Nations then called on the Government of Nigeria, the donor community, and public and private stakeholders to urgently commit resources and implement mitigation measures to save lives and prevent a potentially catastrophic food security and nutrition situation.
From the above, let’s narrow everything down to the South East, and you’ll ask, must everything happening in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe affect how someone eats in the East, as it touches the prices and availability of the item? Unfortunately, the answer is yes, because agriculture is not valued by Eastern leaders anymore.
While aware of all these projections, what did the subnational governments in Nigeria do, especially those from the South-East who had already abandoned agriculture and food production in chase of raw cash they’ll still need to push back to have access to food?
Ask an average old Igbo politician, he’ll tell how Michael Okpara used palm oil and other agricultural produce of the Eastern region to achieve a lot without crude oil. Go further and ask him what they, the current politicians, have done to sustain that. He’ll resort to blame games from one administration to the other.
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There must be a reason the University of Agriculture is named after him in Ụmụdike; the Michael Ọkpara University of Agriculture Ụmụdike, as well as a crop research center named after him. Despite being a Medical Doctor, Okpara knew that food was everything to a nation, and he pursued it.
However, Ọkpara has done his own, and he has been gone since 1984 with brilliant records. With hunger biting harder today, this medium thinks that despite the separate authorities of each of the five southeast states, they need to unite in the name of agriculture, energy, and security.
Springer Nature Links reports that the farming activities of rural households provide the bedrock of the food system in sub-Saharan Africa and are key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals 1–Zero Poverty and 2–Zero Hunger.
Yet a large proportion of these households are themselves food insecure and fall below the poverty line according to the report.
It states in the report that agricultural productivity has increased far more slowly in sub-Saharan Africa than in other regions of the world and crops yield only some 20% of what could be achieved.
One may say that the landmass in the South East is too small for it to be self-sustaining in food, but that is a fallacy. With reports like this, one is tempted to ask, why can’t the five state Governors spend whatever it will take to sponsor research on food production and commission the best heads in the University to go for it?
The best from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Michael Okpara University, Umudike, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, University of Science and Technology, Owerri, and Alex Ekwueme University, Ikwor, should lead the research for the food solution. They should be assembled to go into deep research on how to solve the problem scientifically.
A primary reason for the large yield gaps in this part of the world, according to the report at Springer Nature Links, is the poor soil fertility status, which results from continuous cropping without replenishment of the nutrients removed in harvested produce. This is where the experts must find a solution through research.
Against this backdrop, the report said that the population is growing rapidly and the impacts of climate change are already being felt. The large yield gaps and the rapid growth in demand for nutritious food present opportunities to increase agricultural output for these expanding internal markets. Yet agricultural productivity remains stagnant.
It states that people from this part of the world are reluctant to invest in their small farms because of the meager returns in food and farm income they can generate, turning their focus instead to off-farm opportunities to provide for their families.
It states that this situation, coined as the ‘food security conundrum’, frustrates initiatives to support the sustainable intensification urgently needed to provide for both local and national food and income security.
A report written by Yasemin Bağc titled Tiny but Mighty and published by Europeana on November 25, 2021, explained that the Netherlands is one of the smallest countries in Europe.
Despite this modest size of 41,850 sq km, over the years, it has become the second largest agricultural exporter in the world (after the United States).
The landmass of Nigeria is 923,768 km², but she can barely feed her citizens, with only Niger State having about 76,000 km², which is far bigger than the Netherlands, yet hunger bites everywhere there.
The report explained that the Netherlands generates around €25 billion a year by exporting meat, dairy produce, and vegetables.
Narrating further, it explains that after World War II, the Dutch landscape underwent major changes. To stop the famines that occurred during the occupation by Nazi Germany, a new paradigm called ‘nooit meer hong,’ meaning ‘no hunger again,’ was applied to food production.
This, according to the report, involved new policies focusing on efficiency, optimization, food abundance, and self-sufficiency. The tools and processes intended to achieve these goals included fast industrialization, mechanization, farmer specialization, and larger farms.
These reforms, according to the report, proved very effective, with productivity soaring. In 1962, Irish TV reported on the exceptional Dutch fruit and vegetable production.
The report said that the reforms were the vision of Sicco Mansholt, the Dutch Minister of Agriculture in the late 1940s and 1950s. Dutch agriculture became associated with large-scale industrialized and specialized farms that increased productivity whilst decreasing the need for continuous heavy farming.
It states that Mansholt’s efforts were regularly shown in newsreels showing the state’s support in pushing agriculture forward. In this excerpt from 1952, we see the minister opening a new space in the complex of The Company Laboratory for Soil and Crops Research “Mariëndaal” in Oosterbeek.
The report said that today, two-thirds of the total land area of the Netherlands is used for agricultural purposes. Grassland extends over half of this agricultural land, while arable farming represents a quarter.
Compare the Netherlands with the South East, which barely has 29,362km², and some unserious leaders are talking about the forests that should be converted for agricultural purposes being occupied by criminals. That’s preposterous and complete balderdash. Can’t all those forests be converted to agricultural settlements?
Talking about uniting through energy, a report by Gabriel Amalu for the Nation Newspaper on the 19th of April, 2024 states that the abandoned Nigerian coal deposit is estimated at 2.8 billion metric tons.
While the federal government who by the law of Nigeria owns all mineral resources in the country, has decided not to use coal, as a major source of electricity production and can afford to abandon the enormous coal deposits, which could generate electricity, amongst other benefits, why should the South East keep quiet and take part in the suffering they have the solution?
The report by Gabriel Amalu for the Nation Newspaper on April 19th, 2024 stated that:
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, coal was the third largest energy source for U.S. electricity generation in 2022, which is about 18%.
It states that until the electricity generation system was decarbonized, a few years ago, coal used to generate a third of Britain’s power, and presently, gas and coal power plants made up a third of the UK’s electricity supplies in 2023.
It equally states that within the European Union, coal generates about 25.6% of electricity, and while the numbers are low in some countries, it is higher than 50% in some, with Germany having 42.7%, as recent as 2015.
The report further stated that conversely, in Nigeria, despite the abundance of coal and the paucity of electricity generation, only 570-gigawatt hours of electricity were generated from coal in 2022.
It states that the neglect of coal in Nigeria is not likely to change in the foreseeable future, as there are no known plans of the federal government, which by law owns all mineral resources in the country, to use coal as a major source of electricity production.
The report further said that state governments of Enugu and South-Eastern states, which could benefit from coal, to generate electricity, appear too timid to push their common interest.
According to a recent energy report on the website of the International Trade Administration, the South African government, by 2032, is planning to shut down seven coal-fired power facilities.
The report, however, expressed an impossibility in that plan, stressing that until more specifics are known about when and how this will occur, there is not much that can be said about this as coal stays.
It, however, states that currently, in South Africa, approximately 85 percent or 42,000MW of the nation’s electricity is generated via coal-fired power stations.
It added that despite the environmental concerns, coal will continue to provide most of South Africa’s power for the next decade, although the share from renewables will grow rapidly.
Now, why should the South East keep away from coal simply because the Federal Government is interested in quick oil and gas money that made it abandon coal mining? Is this not a complete sign of unserious-minded leaders?
Still on electricity, a report by TheWill Newspaper on January 7th, 2024 states that Nigeria has nearly 300 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, ranking 9th in the world, with Imo holding the largest reserve amongst all Nigerian states.
The report said that Imo state has 200 trillion cubic feet of gas deposits, a situation that automatically presents a negotiation group with the federal government in a gas-powered turbine for clean energy and steady power.
Fortunately for Imo State and the entire South East, the State currently houses the yet-to-be-completed 375 megawatts gas-powered station in Ohaji-Egbema. This power plant can solve the electricity problem of the entire South East currently if properly used with other available sources.
A report by Niniola Adeyemi of The Electricity Hub on the 30th of September, 2024 states that the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), owners of the plant announced that the Egbema Power Station, which has a capacity of approximately 375 megawatts (MW) in Imo State, is expected to be completed by 2025.
In the report, Jenifer Adighije, the managing director of NDPHC, highlighted that once operational, the power plant will significantly enhance energy capacity by improving transmission to the national grid, thus ensuring reliable and affordable electricity for vulnerable Nigerians.
She stated, “We are here to engage with them and provide the support to meet the project timeline. We are looking at completion in 2025.”
According to the report, the NDPHC reiterated its commitment to collaborating with state governments to provide affordable electricity nationwide.
The Egbema Power Station is one of ten plants under the Nigerian National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), conceived in 2004 during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.
With the removal of electricity from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list, it is expected that states and regions with a comparative advantage over others in that sector should collaborate and do something extraordinary.
President Bola Tinubu’s approval for transferring the Egbema Power Plant project to the Imo State Government has been hailed by the Forum of Imo State Professionals, a group led by Ambassador Greg Mbadiwe. However, it should go beyond that even now that the state is trying to complete the project.
Currently, the Enugu State and Imo State have signed the Enugu State and Imo State Electricity Laws, which have led to the establishment of the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission (EERC) and Imo State Electricity Regulatory Commission (ISERC).
It’s no longer news that on the 27th of June, 2024, the e Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission issued an order to transfer regulatory oversight of the electricity market in Imo State to the Imo State Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The same thing has happened in Enugu, and this medium expects the same in the remaining three states of the Southeast that are expected to collaborate with Imo and Enugu to achieve a regional, government-owned power source with due respect to Geometric Power, a 144 megawatts privately owned power generation and distribution plant in Aba.
In security, we know that the Governors knew what to do if they wanted the Southeast to be secure, and we’re hoping they’ll adopt that method and save the people from criminals traumatizing them.
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