The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Hunger

  • Dangote seeks help to tackle hunger in IDPs camps

    Dangote seeks help to tackle hunger in IDPs camps

    The President of Dangote Group, AlhajiAliko Dangote, has called on well-meaning Nigeria to assist the government in ameliorating the situation in Internally Displaced Persons’ Camps (IDPs) camps.

    Dangote said this is the time wealthy Nigerians should identify with thousands of citizens languishing in the camps due to insufficient facilities and food.

    The business mogul, who recently donated N2 billion and millions of Naira worth of food items on behalf of the Dangote Foundation to the IDPs, urged Nigerians to have empathy for those in the camps.

    Speaking during a visit by North East Development Coalition to his office at the weekend, the Chairman of the Dangote Foundation said he was moved by the reports of deaths and malnutrition which have hit the camps.

    He said: “We cannot open our eyes and allow our fellow citizens continue to suffer like this for no fault of theirs. We need to partner with the government and help those in the camps.

    “It is obvious government alone cannot cater for this people, not even at this time when there is a paucity fund. These people need our help and with what God has provided for us we need to help them.”

    Within a spate of five years, the total amount donated to various camps of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), across the country by the Dangote Foundation has grown to N6. 3billion.

  • Camps of hunger

    Alarming news from the country’s theatre of terrorism further raised the alarm about the dimensions of torment triggered by the agents of terror. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that nearly 250,000 children were suffering from “severe acute malnutrition” in Borno State as a result of Boko Haram’s terroristic activities.

    UNICEF Nigeria representative Jean Gough was quoted as saying: “We estimate that there will be almost a quarter of a million children under five suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Borno this year. Unless we reach these children with treatment, one in five of them will die. We cannot allow that to happen.” The agency put the required intervention funds at $204 million.

    It is appropriate that the Federal Government has declared a nutrition emergency in Borno State following an emergency meeting with the Borno State government on the malnutrition crisis. Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewale said: “We are declaring a nutritional emergency in Borno. We try to put a rapid response team in place following Mr. President’s directive. We had an emergency meeting with the Borno State emergency response team, because more children might die if we don’t do something quickly.”

    The question is: How quickly can the Federal Government do something? According to acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Munir Safieldin, “While the Nigerian Government and humanitarian organisations have stepped up relief assistance, the situation in these areas requires a much faster and wider response.”

    The conflict in the country’s north-eastern region is said to have displaced 2.4 million people and has stretched food insecurity and malnutrition to emergency levels. Over half a million people require immediate food assistance, and the majority of them are either displaced by the conflict or members of the communities hosting the displaced.

    It is expected that by October, the number of those needing assistance will increase. There is no doubt that additional donor funding will be needed for continued humanitarian response in the region.

    This is why the example of Aliko Dangote deserves emulation. When on May 9 the President of Dangote Group made a donation of N2 billion to internally displaced persons (IDPs), he also made a powerful statement by his example. Apart from being the single largest donation by an individual, what Dangote gave reflected his appreciation of the enormity of the humanitarian crisis caused by terrorism.

    It was a humanitarian gesture that helped to highlight the needs of the people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State as well as the need to help them. It was particularly remarkable because the support came from private pockets and not from the public purse.

    This exemplary humanitarian response was reinforced by Dangote’s presence. It was a demonstration of empathy that communicated the humanity of Nigeria’s and Africa’s richest man. He was touring IDP camps in Dalori and Bakassi in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, when he announced his relief package which he said would be delivered through the Dangote Foundation.

    Dangote said: “This is not the first time I am coming here and it will not be the last. So far, we have expended about N1.2 billion in efforts to alleviate the suffering of IDPs across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States. The first major challenge is the physiological needs of these people, and food, nutrition rank right on top of that ladder. So we will first make serious effort to ensure that hunger is eliminated from the IDP camps and thereafter, we will begin to make effort to create jobs and boost entrepreneurship.”

    This is a welcome expression of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and it should be emulated by the country’s big private-sector players. Dangote’s action should galvanise others into action, especially considering the picture of inaction painted by no less a person than the Chairman of Northern Traditional Rulers Council and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, who had observed that funds raised for the sake of the IDP’s had not reached them.

    At the opening of the Council’s second General Assembly in Kaduna in November last year, the Sultan said: “When we go into closed session, we will discuss that thorny issue of displaced persons, mostly in the Northeast. It is a very sad situation; people are suffering. Billions and billions of naira have been collected or put aside for their welfare… It is important that this money be disbursed immediately via the governors.”

    The Sultan added: “We want the governors to take the issue more seriously; take it up with Mr. President and ensure the release of the funds because I was part of the team when this money was collected for the IDPs during the last government. They should find out where that money is and disburse it immediately.”

    What happened to the money? Considering the ongoing revelations of corruption in high places during the tenure of the previous government, it may well be that the funds raised to help the IDPs ended up in corrupt pockets.

    This background helps to further underline the value of Dangote’s charity. The innocent people, who are not only displaced, but also distressed, deserve help. Ultimately, giving back to society, which is the essence of CSR, is a desirable social action. Dangote’s example should serve as a wake-up call.

    In a thought-provoking drama, IDPs in Abuja on July 1 asked for direct donations when members of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) visited the New Kuchingoro Camp on a relief mission. Their Chairman, Mr. Philemon Emmanuel was quoted as saying: “We have been here since 2014; we are 1467 persons from Borno State Kozar Local Government Area and 56 from Adamawa. And we have been surviving because of the help of some churches, organisations, mosques and private individuals. We hear many times that people have donated items to assist IDPs in Abuja but don’t get to see the donations. Recently, we heard that Dangote donated items worth millions of Naira to IDPs in Abuja but we are yet to receive the items. We however want to appeal that if some people want to help, they should come through the IDPs camp so we can get the assistance directly. ”

    Of course, it is easy to express concern about the plight of the IDPs who are products of acts of terrorism by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram, which has tormented the country since 2009. It is easy to say something about how these victims of terrorism need help but do nothing to help them. There is such a thing as putting one’s money where one’s mouth is.

    It is lamentable that the country’s terrorism-related internal refugees are hungry and dying while those who can give assistance internally remain onlookers.

  • The hunger in Bayelsa and Dickson’s insensitivity

    One by one, the pensioners are joining their ancestors; one by one, the local government workers are going down; one by one, the few business concerns are packing up, and one by one, parents and guardians too are withdrawing their children and wards from school!

    The above offers the gritty description of the dangerous economic situation that has taken a firm grip on Bayelsa State in the last ten months.

    Across the state, there are very strong indications that up to about 80 percent of the families are eking out a living under “economic emergencies”. The obvious implication of this is that practically an overwhelming majority of Bayelsans who are mainly salary-dependent are suffering severe privations.

    There is no gainsaying that the frighteningly deteriorated economic climate in Bayelsa State is a strong indicator that the state’s resources have been badly mismanaged over time. The state’s economy is grinding to a halt as businesses continue to fold up daily.

    Needless to say, the scary economic outlook in Bayelsa State cannot be isolated from the state’s share of federal allocations, which had plummeted sharply. However, being a Niger Delta oil and gas producing State, Bayelsa ought not to be in the present financial quagmire if it had not been overburdened by ill-advised loans taken by its present and past leaders. From all indications, Creek Haven is too economical with the truth about the state’s financial dealings.

    It is incredibly difficult to believe that Bayelsa State Government workers are being owed about five months’ salaries, while its pensioners had not been paid their stipends in the last 10 months. More is the pity local government workers also share the same cruel fate, despite the councils steadily receiving federal allocations and a bailout of over N1billion since February to pay the starving and dying workers in the third tier of government in the state.

    In the midst of the misery, untold hardship and even deaths caused by the protracted non-payment of salaries of workers, the Bayelsa State Government under Governor Seriake Dickson chose to play politics on the altar of the people’s agonies! The disposition displayed by the government towards the predicament of the pensioners and workers underscores the height of insensitivity to the collective suffering of Bayelsans.

    I reason, and strongly too, that as economically endowed as Bayelsa State truly is, its people don’t deserve to be exposed to the hardship they are facing at the moment. The only acceptable, credible explanation for the people’s current suffering seems that the administration of Governor Dickson has joined its predecessor to further mortgage the future of the state through “bad loans” which are taking their toll on Bayelsans.

    Apparently, Bayelsans have got more than they really bargained for, for re-electing the ‘Contriman Governor’ who is more preoccupied with consolidating himself in power than bringing succour to the suffering Bayelsa families. It does not speak well of the state that the Bayelsa Governor is not batting an eyelid seeing his own ‘Contrimen’ and ‘Contriwomen’ dying of hunger and privations. He should urgently do the needful before the situation snowballs into a social conflagration.

     

    • Mr. Jaja Ebinyo,

    Nembe-Basambiri,

    Bayelsa State.

  • Pupils seek extreme hunger reduction

    Some secondary school pupils in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to insist on the effective introduction of farm practices in schools and homes for cultivation of crops to reduce extreme hunger among Nigerian children.

    The pupils, drawn from various schools, made this demand during a seminar by Development and Leadership Institute (DLI), a non-governmental organisation.

    The pupils also sought the improvement of educational system in Nigeria, and provision of potable water in communities.

    To reduce extreme hunger, the pupils recommended the re-orientation of agricultural practice as a way of life for food production as well as the provision of modern farm equipments to farmers and regular enlightenment programmes for them.

    In an interview, Miss Paula Ado-Kano of Port Harcourt International School said she was happy that the Federal Government has a policy that restricts importation of food items, which will make attention to shift to agriculture.

    She also called on the government to improve the learning environment and infrastructural facilities in schools and inadequately monitor the exam systems.

    Another student, Nandi Okorokwo, of Grace Land International School said government should monitor and discipline teachers who have no passion for teaching and discourage corruption in the education system.

    Programme Manager of DLI, Mrs Doris Aremu, said the programme is an annual event that gives the pupils an opportunity to discuss issues effecting Nigerian children.

    “The discussion was centered on the issues about the children; they want the government to hear what their problems are.   What we want as an organization is for the government to give the children a listening ear on the issues affecting them,” he said.

     

  • Hunger levels up in 52 developing countries

    Despite progress in reducing hunger globally, hunger levels in 52 of 117 countries in the 2015 Global Hunger Index remains “serious” (44 countries) or “alarming” (eight countries). The Central African Republic, Chad, and Zambia had the highest hunger levels in the report, which was released by the International Food Policy Research Institute, Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide.

    Conflicts can be strongly associated with severe hunger, according to the report, which focused on armed conflict and the challenge of hunger in the main essay. The countries with the highest and worst GHI scores tend to be those engaged in or recently emerged from war. The two worst-scoring countries both experienced violent conflict and political instability in recent years. In contrast, in Angola, Ethiopia, and Rwanda, hunger levels have fallen substantially since the end of the civil wars of the 1990s and 2000s.

    The report outlined some bright spots in the fight to end world hunger. The level of hunger in developing countries has fallen by 27 per cent since 2000, and 17 countries reduced their hunger scores by at least half since 2000.

    Among those countries are Azerbaijan, Brazil, Croatia, Mongolia, Peru, and Venezuela. Some of the world’s poorest countries could not be included in the report due to unavailable data. As a result, the picture of global hunger may be worse than reported here.

    Global hunger is a continuing challenge with one in nine people worldwide chronically undernourished and more than one quarter of children too short for their age due to nutritional deficiencies. Nearly half of all child deaths under age five are due to malnutrition, which claims the lives of about 3.1 million children per year.

    This year’s essay sheds light on an unheralded achievement of the past 50 years. “Calamitous famines,” those that kill more than one million people, seem to have vanished.

    “War and conquest have long been the drivers of mass starvation. Although humanitarian responses are far faster and more proficient than in the past, we still need to attend to the perils of armed conflict and inhumane policies generating severe hunger,” said Alex de Waal, author of the essay and executive director of the World Peace Foundation and research professor at Tufts University.

  • Save us from hunger Warri Wolves’ players beg Delta govt

    Save us from hunger Warri Wolves’ players beg Delta govt

    Players of Warri Wolves have again called on the Delta State government to offset their unpaid wages to help motivate them in the Glo Premier League title race.

    Wolves, despite coming off a week-long strike over unpaid wages, thumped title rivals, Sunshine Stars, 3-0 with a commanding performance that saw Gbolahan Salami score a hat-trick.

    Three of the influential players, who pleaded to speak with supersport.com after Saturday’s match, confirmed that they have been paid three out of six months salaries owed them but insisted that they are still unhappy with other financial obligations yet to be met by the club and its sponsor, the Delta State government.

    “Most of us are family men and the major bread winners in our family. Imagine not being paid for months. We are grateful that we have been paid three months out of the six months salaries we are owed but to be honest most of those money have gone into paying debt and tuition fees of our children,” one of the players lamented.

    Another Wolves star told supersport.com: “It is not what we expected as we had high hope of receving all of our money. Unfortunately we got just three months and I personally think we will be motivated if we are paid off our money as we are still in the title race and can win this. But right now the whole team is not so happy though like they say half bread is better than none. I still think that paying us everything we are owed will motivate us to win the title.”

    The third player reeled out that the high cost of living is biting on him and some of the players who have wives and children to cater for as well as other dependants. “We do not have any other profession other than football. Some of us have to pay rent for the accommodation where our families live. We also have to pay tuition fees and other bills to run the home. Football is not a profession in which one can actually practice forever. That’s the reason we are calling on the government and the club to pay us our money as we are grateful for the part-payment so far.”

    Already the League Management Company (LMC), which oversees the running of the top flight in Nigeria, had written to Wolves’ management to remind it of a 60-day deadline to pay up their players or face a six-point deduction. That deadline elapses on October 24.

    “You are hereby reminded that the 60-day period, within which you are expected to remedy the breach, will lapse on October 24, 2015. Be advised that your club will become liable to the initial deduction of six points, should you fail to meet the deadline,” part of the LMC letter to Wolves read.

    The LMC also urged the players of Wolves “to adhere to the grievance procedure and the rules and regulations of the league” as stated in the competition’s framework and rules which allows the players to give a 45-day notice to the club and 15 days for the LMC to resolve any dispute including financial obligation.

    Players of Wolves claim they are still owed three months salaries, 115 per cent signing-on fees from last season as well as 10 league match bonuses and seven bonuses in the CAF Confederation Cup.

    Warri Wolves, owned and financed by the Delta State government, are currently second in the standings of the Glo Premier League with 55 points, three behind leaders, Enyimba.

  • Buhari at UN, urges world leaders to eliminate hunger, diseases by 2030

    Buhari at UN, urges world leaders to eliminate hunger, diseases by 2030

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in New York reaffirmed his administration’s total commitment to the entrenchment of a fully transparent and accountable public revenue management system in Nigeria.

    Addressing the United Nations Plenary Summit for the adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, President Buhari said his administration was taking steps to improve and streamline internal generation of revenue and to plug all loopholes that have led to illicit capital flight from Nigeria.

    He told the gathering that his government was also putting mechanisms in place to prevent oil theft and other criminal practices that are detrimental to Nigeria’s economy.

    Applauding the adoption of the Post-2015 Global Development Agenda, President Buhari, in a statement by Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said that he was very pleased that world leaders had reaffirmed their commitment to sustainable development, international peace and security and the protection of the planet.

    He said: “These are really the major issues of the day. For the first time, we have at our disposal a framework that is universal in scope and outlook, with clearly defined goals and targets and appropriately crafted methods of implementation.

    “The declaration that we have adopted today testifies to the urgency and the necessity for action by all of us. It is not for want of commitment that previous initiatives have failed or could not be fully realized. What seemed to be lacking in the past were political will and the required global partnership to pursue and implement the programmes to which we committed ourselves.

    “This declaration enjoys global consensus. We have agreed to deliver as one and to leave no one behind. This is a promise worth keeping. We have agreed to create viable partnerships and to adopt the means of implementation for the goals and targets of the global sustainable development agenda in all its three dimensions; namely economic, social and environmental.

    “The Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) together with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda that we adopted in July 2015 offer us a unique opportunity to address the unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

    “They also provide the basis for a new set of global development priorities to usher in a peaceful and prosperous world, where no one is left behind, and where the freedom from fear and want, and for everyone to live in dignity, is enthroned,” President Buhari said.

    Stressing that illiteracy, hunger and diseases are associated evils that go hand in hand with poverty, the President urged the assembled world leaders to do everything possible “to eliminate these ills from our midst by 2030 as the declaration loudly proclaims”.

    “The bottom billion that has neither safety nets nor social protection need to be rescued from their perpetual state of hopelessness, fear and indignity. This is a task that should have been accomplished decades ago. Now that it has fallen on our shoulders to discharge this responsibility, we should do so with the enthusiasm and commitment that is worthy of the cause.

    “We must adopt targeted interventions at both policy and practical levels, to address extreme poverty and combat illiteracy, hunger and diseases. We must create viable partnerships that bring together national, regional and global actors with shared objectives to carry this forward.

    “We must also create the enabling environments for executing this global agenda, by developing the relevant frameworks for working with different types of partners and constituencies that recognize the contributions of civil society, religious and cultural bodies, private sector, academia and, most importantly, governments.

    “Just as the relative success of the MDGs was underpinned by national ownership, the Post-2015 and the SDGs frameworks must also be guided by national priorities and ownership. Domestic resource mobilization supplemented by improved terms of trade between industrial and developing economies should drive the implementation processes in both streams. The facilitation of remittances by migrant and overseas workers, as well as efficient tax collection are needed as complimentary sources of financing for development,” the President said.

    He also said that Nigeria was proud to have availed her services to the United Nations in co-chairing the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing, whose work contributed in no small measure to the expansion of financing for development strategies.

    Meanwhile, President Buhari would be among world leaders, speaking at a  special event tomorrow at the ongoing United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in New York.

    The event is targeted at investing in young people to secure peace and security in Lake Chad  Basin nations attacked by terrorists

    According to a statement from the United Nations media advisory, the forum is organized in support of ongoing initiatives for countries affected by the current terrorist crisis in the Lake Chad Basin area  namely Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

    It is said that the event will make an important contribution to dealing with the crisis, building resilient communities in the sub-region and preserving their gains from the Millennium Development Goals, while helping affected countries pursue the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals.

    “In Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, insurgents are exploiting the huge youth populations which, otherwise, could be assets for employment, innovation and development.

    “It is the potential which, if combined with the right policies and demographic transitions, could provide the region with the opportunity to harness a demographic dividend that leads to rapid economic development.

    “The demographic dividend is the accelerated economic growth that could result when a country’s working age population grows larger than the non-working dependents.

    “While the crisis damages entire communities, women are particularly targeted. As of April 2015, more than 2,000 women and young girls have been abducted, according to Amnesty International”, the statement said.

    Other heads of states of affected countries expected to address the forum include President of Benin, Boni Yayi; President of Cameroon, Paul Biya; President of Chad, Idriss Deby Itno; President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou;  and the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin.

    The UNFPA event, which   proposes strategic initiatives to support and empower young people and protect them from manipulation and radicalization, holds between 10 a.m and1 p.m New York time.

  • Hunger and the Nigerian journalist

    I recently read an article titled ‘Bailout for debtor media houses?’ by Idowu Sowunmi, a media consultant. On the third paragraph of that article, he highlighted the names of media houses that owe workers salaries from as ‘little’ as four months to 18 months. As I scanned through the list of the who-is-who in the Fourth Estate of the realm that have ‘turned workers in these media houses to beautiful slaves of some sort’, I remembered that in 2009, I had had cause to write an article like Mr. Sowunmi’s. In it I had wondered at how a journalist who had not been paid his salary for eight, nine or ten months could take care of his rent, fuel his car, provide for his nuclear and extended families and still remain in a sound frame of mind to report on state governors who had not paid salaries of workers for as long as seven months as well. That article was serialized in the Daily Independent newspaper, and titled ‘Nigerian Journalism Heal thyself’. There were several reactions to that article and the one that I vividly remember was one by a journalist who misread my theme and upbraided me for daring to discuss a topic so wrapped in awe and discussed in hushed tones. But I came off from that discussion with the journalist with an awkward feeling in my gut: how long are we going to pretend that journalists are not being enslaved, subjected to hunger in their minds, souls and bodies, and that the only way some survive is to go a-borrowing and ‘marketing’ since the regularity of the ‘brown envelope’ is seemingly irregular?

    The other day I called up a colleague with whom I had had informal and professional dealings. All I wanted of him was the name and email of the editor in charge of a certain page of his newspaper.  I was stunned that he asked me to pay a fee for that ‘service’ and I told him so. He told me off as well, insisting that there was no way in hell that I was going to be able to reach that editor. ‘Even if you reach him, your article will only end up in his junk of his email. You will have to pay for me so that I can tell the editor to publish your article’, he said. He was right – even though I had sent some articles to that paper, none has ever seen the light of day. I cannot say that this is the same attitude of editors at ThisDay, Daily Independent, The Guardian, The Punch and The Nation Newspapers have exhibited – I have never met anyone of them personally, yet they subject my articles to the fire of objectivity and fairness and publish if my articles met their high standards.

    Therefore, I cannot be in a hurry to point fingers at whom or what is responsible for the mess the media is in today.  A colleague demanding for and asking to be paid for doing a job for which he is not being paid is probably just being human. The only problem there is at this stage is that the journalist is asking for his wages from source(s) from which he shouldn’t be expecting to be paid. Human beings have real and tangible needs, and these needs have to be met whether you like it or not. But human beings are the problems of human beings. Our journalists are no less trained than other professionals in other fields of human endeavour who do a decent job and who earn a decent wage.

    Let me explain: most of Europe and the Americas do not employ you to be a journalist simply because you can write or simply because you have a BA in Mass Communications. They employ you based on your track record in your chosen profession – architect, economist, sociologist or that you are a marine biologist who will be able to bring the full weight of your professional capacity to bear on information dissemination. The assumption is that a marine biologist would be better trained to understand, dissect and distil information before it gets to the public. If a media house in Europe and America were to employ a lawyer or an accountant, they would have to pay him, else they would have no option but to close shop.

    Another thing that makes the practice of journalism in the modern world much more interesting and exciting than what obtains in some media houses in Nigeria is that the media houses themselves have flexible professional affiliations with journalists. Most will not employ large members of staff if they know that they cannot afford to pay them. They know that keeping a large number of journalists translates to a huge wage bill not just in terms of monthly salaries but welfare packages and emoluments as well. So what they do is that they keep a large number of stringers –  professional journalists who work freelance and only get paid if they have a story that sells – and yes, stories sell like hot cake in that part of the world. A journalist who has a good story can sell it to as many mediums as possible. He doesn’t have to be employed and sit at a desk from Monday to Sunday, without holidays and with no pay.

    But that is not all – journalists in the modern world do other things apart from just sitting at a desk. They multitask – they teach, blog, write books, take pictures and engage on speaking tasks that rake in a nice income. If a Nigerian journalist were to do this, the wrath of his employers would probably fall on him and the fear of losing a job for which he is not even paid or paid well is so great.

    And it is at this point that I would part ways with the author of ‘Bail out for media houses?’ who seeks government intervention for the inability of media to pay its workers. The minute government intervenes and gives newspaper houses a bailout, they would become rubber stamps and news agencies of government. I would prefer to have a medium struggling to pay its workers salaries than having one on the payroll or bailout or one that has collected dole from government. The very essence of journalism is in being able to speak truth to power and hold government accountable. How many journalists on the entourage of a governor or a minister actually do hard investigations on government expenditure in spite of their proximity to that government official?

    Consequently, I would recommend that media houses that are unable to pay salaries should democratize,  ‘rebrand’ or re-strategize – they should use more freelancers, bloggers, reporters and syndicated columnists who have a job elsewhere but who are interested in earning something extra. The current practice where a journalist’s ID card is a meal-ticket is an embarrassment to Nigeria, and which stunts the growth and development of democracy.

    Etemiku is Communications Manager with the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ.

  • FAO unveils new crop to end hunger in West Africa

    FAO unveils new crop to end hunger in West Africa

    The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has stepped up efforts to end hunger and poverty in West Africa, following the introduction of a new crop meant to contribute to National and Global food security.

    The crop, known as Quinoa, is described as a highly nutritious food crop that can survive in various growing conditions. It  also has a high potential to contribute to regional and global food security due to its nutritional characteristics and agronomical versatility.

    According to the FAO, Quinoa is the only food plant that offers all essential amino acids, trace elements and vitamins in a healthy balance and also gluten free.

    Similarly, the crop can be an important alternative, especially to populations that have no access to adequate sources of protein. FAO characterised Quinoa as one of humanity’s most promising crop relative to the fact it is the answer to the myriad of problems of human nutrition.

    At a regional training of trainers’ workshop in Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region, , FAO Regional Representative for Africa, Dr Lamourdia Thiombiano, said the benefits of the Quinoa crop have been established with some evidence, demonstrating its potential for hunger and poverty reduction at national, regional and global levels.

    Thiombiano indicated that the demand for the crop had risen as a result of its nutritious nature, resulting in a mad rush for its cultivation in over 70 countries.

  • How to fight hunger

    A professor of Food Chemistry of EKSU Ibiyinka Ogunlade, believes the government can arrest  hunger and food insecurity through proper education on how to make abundant food available to all.

    Ogunlade said proper awareness drive and a robust advocacy on abundant food production coupled with research and implementation of its findings would provide an avenue to arrest the situation particularly in Nigeria.

    Delivering the 41st inaugural lecture of EKSU titled: “Food and Education: Catalyst for sustainable development “, Ogunlade suggested the establishment of small scale industries for effective mode of utilisation of weeds in food and chemical industries. He stressed that governments must have the political will to take such measures in arresting food insecurity.

    She also recommended the establishment of Agro-based industries which could convert farm products into finished produce, such as pounded yam from yam, cocoa and coffee beans to all types of beverages and tea.

    Further, she advocated that Nigerians should return to nature food programme in what she described as “Return to Nature” warning against consumption of junks which could result in the occurrence of diseases such as cancer and diabetes, among others.