Food Security, Poverty Alleviation And The Oceanic Forum

By Reuben Abati

As part of its social responsibility programme, Oceanic Bank International Plc, now organizes an annual Global Leaders Forum through which it facilitates public debate by both local and international speakers on an urgent issue of national interest. Last year, the Forum on April 29, 2008 examined the theme of "Human Development in an Emerging Economy". This year, the event which was held on May 5, in Lagos, focused on "Food Security and Poverty Alleviation". The more interesting aspect of the Oceanic Global Leaders Forum is the participation in it every year of Nobel Laureates and high profile international figures. Last year, they had Professor Wole Soyinka (Nobel 1986), Professor Eric Maskin (Nobel, 2007) Professor Rita Dove (US Poet Laureate) and Professor Henry Louis Gates (foremost American scholar and intellectual) as Guest Speakers.

This year's event had five Nobel Laureates in attendance, including Derek Walcott (1992 Nobel in Literature), Wole Soyinka (1986 Nobel in Literature), Dr Betty Williams (1976 Nobel Peace Prize Winner), Professor Finn Kydland (2004 Nobel Laureate in Economics), Professor Eric Maskin (2007 Nobel in Economics), and Dr Noel Brown (President, Friends of the United Nations). Nothing can be more exciting than the collection of such gravitas under one roof. But of course, the emphasis was, as pointed out by the Bank GMD?CEO, Mrs Cecilia Ibru, analysis, solutions and follow up actions and how a difference can be made. That the subjects of food security and poverty are related and of definite importance in Nigeria, Africa and the world generally is not in doubt.

The first major crisis recorded in the Scriptures is food-related, with Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit that purportedly changed the nature of God-man relations forever. The basic needs of life are shelter, food and clothing, but of these the most essential, is food. Human beings can do without shelter for a while, and can manage with a piece of clothing, but hunger is one of the most dreaded afflictions that any man can contemplate. Not surprisingly, there have been food riots in a number of countries, in 2008, there were 74 of such riots across the world including riots in Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast and Guinea. Human beings need food security: adequate quantity and quality of food at an affordable price to enable them live a healthy and active life.

But unfortunately, this has been a major dilemma in many parts of the world, with food crisis being at the centre of national development, international relations, and world peace. With the threats of bio-energy, global climate change and the imbalances in food production, food security has also been cited as a vehicle of injustice and inequality in the world. Developed nations, with sophisticated technology and other advantages produce more food which they dump on less privileged countries, thus destroying the agricultural sector in those countries, especially where it is cheaper to buy food imports than to produce at home. The food crisis is therefore distorting the world order, and it is partly responsible for the spread of poverty. With a continuous rise in food prices, over 850 million people in the world are malnourished, 21 of the 36 worst hit countries are in Africa. The African situation is a disturbing paradox. Africa boasts of abundant agricultural resource base, but most African countries cannot feed their populations.

The case of Nigeria is pathetic. In the 60s, agriculture was the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, a major source of employment and the country's main foreign exchange earner. The country not only produced enough to feed itself, it was the major food basket for the West African sub-region. We had cocoa in the West, rubber in the Mid-West, agricultural produce and palm oil in the East and South South, food crops in the Middle Belt and the North. Nigeria's soil spewed forth cocoa, groundnut, tomatoes, yam tubers, cassava, maize and so on. Livestock was just as abundant.

Government soon set up research institutes across the country on different crops, and in many ways, agriculture defined the nation. But today, this same country can barely feed itself. Nigeria's arable land is about 74 million hectares, less than half of that is now being cultivated. About 80 per cent Nigerians live in the rural areas, but those villagers no longer want to farm. Across the country, there are not up to 30, 000 tractors. Farming is still largely subsistent; in 2009, the Nigerian farmer still depends mainly on rainfall.

Whatever is produced cannot be processed. There are no storage facilities. Most fruits that are produced are wasted. Farmers need infrastructural facilities: good roads on which they transport their products, the railway, electricity, easy access to markets, loans. But these are not available. All the agricultural research institutes of old are under-funded, poorly managed and neglected. The International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan has since scaled down its operations in Nigeria.

The effects are obvious. Food prices are high, few can afford to feed well. Many children and families suffer from vitamins and minerals deficiency, the country faces a nutrition catastrophe. In the Second Republic, one Federal Minister had quipped that he could not yet see Nigerians eating from the dustbins. These days, nobody needs to look too far. Professor Wole Soyinka had alluded to the inability of African leaders to come up with "intelligent interventions" in addressing the hunger and poverty challenge. Professor Walcott spoke about the need for "conscience." The food and poverty crisis in Nigeria can be directly linked to these two issues. What we are dealing with is the failure of governance, a case of "man becoming a wolf to fellow men" to borrow an expression from Walcott. One, Nigeria found oil and it abandoned agriculture. The country stopped planning for the future. Unfortunately, oil boom has not brought peace. It has only created chaos, hunger, unbridled greed.

Nigeria is a regular participant at international conferences on food security. It signed the Maputo Consensus of 2003 where all African nations agreed to devote 10% of national budget to agriculture. Budgetary allocation to agriculture in Nigeria is about 3 to 4%. The country has a National Programme for Food Security (NPFS), and a National Food Reserve Agency, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources. But the agricultural sector is the location of some of the biggest scams in the country. There is no way Nigeria can feed itself with infernally corrupt persons in charge of its affairs. State governments invest in fertilizers, and make a huge show of providing same to farmers.

But the fertilizer is almost always stolen and sold across the border. Government does not get its priorities right. And the people are not impressed. When recently, the Federal Government announced a N200 billion agricultural fund, one fellow expressed the view that the money should be shared. He'd rather use his share to buy food for himself than allow civil servants to steal it. Can anyone query such cynicism? The last time the Federal Government launched a similar scheme, the main, (some add the only) beneficiary was the farm owned by the incumbent President!

There has been a massive failure in the area of policy. The extant Revised Import Prohibition List for example, prohibits the importation of a long list of food items with the intent of encouraging local production and market. The items on that list include live or dead birds, birds eggs, beef and beef products, flowers, plastic and fresh, cassava/cassava products, beer, biscuits, spaghetti/noodles, fruit juice in retail packs, waters, vegetable oils, maize, sugar confectionaries (other than chocolate), and yet all these items are sold openly on Nigerian streets. Government cannot enforce its own rules. Worse, we have witnessed too many policy sommersaults in the past two years. Take palm oil. Government had banned the importation of palm oil, but now it has turned full circle to allow 100% palm oil importation thus sabotaging the local industry. China, Professor Maskin pointed out has a protectionist policy on rice exports. Nigeria runs an open sesame economy that has turned the country into a dumping ground. An economic framework that is riddled with inconsistencies between monetary and fiscal policies and which makes imports more affordable than local products is bound to promote poverty.

The eradication of hunger and poverty is probably the most basic targets out of the eight UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). But Nigeria has lost it already. We failed the mid-term MDGs assessment. And we have now moved our own goal post from 2015 to 2020. We may have to move it again. Meanwhile, poverty stalks the land, with 70 per cent of the population living on less than a dollar a day, and according to the World Bank, about 40 million Nigerians are unemployed. More than that number is probably under-employed. Nigeria has about the highest maternal morbidity and infant mortality rates in the world, our hospitals are bad, the school system has collapsed, social infrastructure too.

These problems have been over-analysed to the point of paralysis, there is certainly no dearth of knowledge on what needs to be done, The challenge is in knowing how to do it, how to define priorities and how to find the political will to improve the country's human development index. In Nigeria, poverty alleviation has always taken the shape of throwing money at the problem. There is a National Poverty Eradication Programme whose National Coordinator, Magnum Kpakol was the chair of the second session at the Oceanic Forum, but the poverty index in Nigeria continues to worsen, the economy is adrift.

For how much longer can we continue like this? Nigeria is now classified as a failed state. Professor Walcott spoke about the resilience of man, his ability to laugh in the midst of pain, something located in an ultimate value that is beyond the dictator. He stressed the point about how the crisis of poverty can produce a rich harvest of creativity. I guess this is precisely what is keeping most Nigerians going. But we must continue to insist that government must do its bit. Hunger and poverty have implications for national security, see the insurgency in the Niger Delta.

To build a different Nigeria, government must become efficient: this would require developing zero tolerance for corruption, emphasis on service and productivity, the formulation of sustainable policies rather than ad-hoc measures and empty slogans that are tie to individuals in power, traditional values that stress integrity and hardwork also need to be re-invented and promoted. Education used to provide a ladder out of poverty, now it offers a trip into greater poverty. The school system needs to be rebuilt in order to ensure a more certain school to work transition. To end hunger, and malnutrition, there should be a National Nutrition Strategy and public enlightenment on good nutrition. Food security cannot be achieved without rural transformation. The farmer in the village is a human being with real needs. By providing social safety nets, in form of better infrastructure and opportunities, government would release the people's potentials. Policy responsibility also includes providing structures and mechanisms for private sector productivity (water, electricity, good roads etc.)

In the face of higher food prices, Professor Maskin says consumers are bound to be hurt more than producers. The Nigerian economy must become productive. It needs to be diversified. Professor Wole Soyinka commenting on the situation in Sudan and Zimbabwe had pointed out that starvation is a weapon often used by tyrants to achieve their goals. Bismarck Rewane, a co-discussant at the Forum urged all of us to be realistic. Why should the Nigerian leadership elite be interested in eliminating poverty and food insecurity? If there are no poor and hungry people, where would some people find the rationale for their own sense of importance and power? Hunger he reiterated is an instrument of power and control. This may be true, but the power elite in Africa and elsewhere for whom this is a creed should remember how a food and poverty crisis became the needed catalyst for the French Revolution.

Robot  # 1 | 10.05.2009 09:37

Food Security, Poverty Alleviation And The Oceanic Forum By Reuben Abati As part of its social responsibility programme, Oceanic Bank International Plc, now organizes an annual Global Leaders Forum through which it facilitates public debate by both local and international speakers on an urgent issue of national interest. Last year, the Forum on April 29, 2008 examined the theme of "Human Development in an Emerging Economy". This year, the event which was held on May 5, in Lagos, focused on "Food Security and Poverty Alleviation". The more interesting aspect of the Oceanic Global Leaders Forum is the participation in it every year of Nobel Laureates and high profile international figures. Last year, they had Professor Wole Soyinka (Nobel 1986), Professor Eric Maskin (Nobel, 2007) Professor Rita Dove (US Poet Laureate) and Professor Henry Louis Gates (foremost American scholar and intellectual) as Gu...Read the full article.