By Ige Adekunle
Prof. Abiodun Adebayo, Vice-Chancellor, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun, has emphasised the need for the Federal Government to redouble its efforts at tackling insecurity in order to achieve food sufficiency.
Adebayo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Ota that insecurity had impacted negatively on the nation’s food supply chain.
According to him, there is a high level of food insecurity in Nigeria as a result of security challenges such as armed banditry and kidnappings confronting the nation.
“The Federal Government must begin to look inwards to see how to tackle insecurity so that food can be made available to everyone,” he said.
The vice-chancellor said that insecurity was a critical factor driving inflationary trend in the country.
“Farmers can no longer go to their farms to produce due to numerous attacks by bandits and kidnappers.
“This development is affecting food production, distribution and availability, and thus translating to higher level of food insecurity and inflation rate in the country,” he noted.
Adebayo added that the nation’s inflation figure released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the inflation rate was about 28.99 percent in December 2023.
He said it was 29.92 percent in January 2024, 31.70 per cent in February and 33.2 per cent in March.
According to him, insecurity is a major driver of the food inflation, which was almost 40 percent in March.
The vice-chancellor urged the federal government to re-strategise and collaborate collectively through relevant stakeholders to find lasting solution to the menace of insecurity. (NAN)
