The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take urgent steps to address food insecurity in the country.
This was contained in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, stated that the worsened food insecurity was killing Nigerians.
The statemnent reads in parts; “It said over 82.9 million Nigerians could no longer afford their daily meals due to the failure of the administration to take practical steps to grow and protect the food sector, “thereby leading to severe food scarcity with prices soaring beyond the reach of Nigerians.”
“It asked Buhari to take urgent steps to address the urgent issue of hunger by opening silos to cushion the situation and push down prices.
It said the Federal Government should also realign the agricultural sector by beefing up security in food production areas so that farmers could return to their farmlands.
The PDP also urged Buhari to provide direct stimuli to small businesses as incentive to pay salaries, revamp production and boost purchasing power.
It lamented that Nigeria “now ranks as 98 out of 107 in Global Hunger Index, with an agonizing food shortage, collapsed purchasing power; alarming 33.3 percent unemployment and 22.95 food inflation rates as well as increased morbidity and mortality rates.
“Today, under the APC, a bag of rice which sold for N8,000 under the PDP now sells for N30,000, a measure of garri and beans which sold for N150 and N250 now sell for N500 and N800 respectively; a measure of maize and guinea corn which sold for about N150 now sells for N400 while a kilo of meat which sold for about N800 now sells for about N2,300,” the PDP stated.
