“Nigerians are dying of hunger, foods are expensive”

The Middle Belt Movement for Justice and Peace, has urged the federal government to take steps to address the rising cost of food in the country lamenting that Nigerians are dying of hunger.

The group cautioned that the development is contributing in no small measure to the increasing wave of crime in parts of the country.

Convener of the MBMJP, Comrade Joe Bukka in a statement in Makurdi lamented the the prices of food in the country was getting out of the reach of ordinary Nigerians and something should be done urgently about it.

He said a situation where prices of essential food items steadily climbs by the day makes life unbearable for the masses as the purchasing power of Nigerians is eroded while the standard of living drops to unimaginable level.

“The truth is that Nigerians are dying of hunger because the prices of food is getting beyond the reach of the masses. And this can be attributed to the increasing insecurity in the country.

“Farmers have been chased out of their farms by armed herdsmen who would not allow farming activities to take place in our rural communities.

“In the case of Benue state which is known as the food basket of the nation, where close to 1.8million farmers are spending over three years in Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, camps and cannot access their farms, the situation is unimaginable.

“By this time of the year we should be having bumper harvest of yam, rice, maize, soya bean, millet, melon, groundnuts, cassava and others that are produce in commercial quantity in Benue state but that is not the case at the moment because the farmers are now IDPs and their farms cannot be easily accessed because armed herders have taken over and we cannot get food supply from the rural communities.

“The federal government should know that Nigerians are not interested in huge annual budgets that have not changed their lives, they want cheap and affordable food, and socio-economic stability and it is sad that we do not see that prospect in the country at the moment.

“This government must therefore save Nigerian populace this agony of not having food to eat because a hungry man is an angry man.”