Peter Obi, the presidential candidate for the Nigeria Democratic Congress, stated that the escalating food insecurity across Nigeria will persist unless the nation selects leaders who genuinely prioritize the well-being of the populace. Responding to a report from the UN World Food Programme that highlighted the risk of acute hunger for over 17 million people in the North, the former Anambra State governor argued that Nigeria’s status as a food basket makes the current situation a direct result of poor governance.
In a series of statements on his social media platform, Obi described the impending food crisis as both heartbreaking and preventable. He urged the federal and state governments to move past empty political rhetoric and instead commit to transparent investments. Specifically, he called for securing agricultural routes, providing smallholder farmers with necessary resources, and working closely with international partners like the WFP to close funding gaps.
Obi noted that over 35 million Nigerians are currently at risk during this difficult period, with conditions in Borno State reaching catastrophic levels. He attributed the ongoing crisis to two fundamental failures: widespread insecurity and the inability of farmers to safely access their fields due to banditry and insurgency. To reverse this, he proposed shifting the national focus from consumption to production by removing structural barriers to agriculture and transforming fertile, uncultivated land into a productive industrial base. He concluded that a prosperous, hunger-free Nigeria is possible if leadership prioritizes the livelihoods of its citizens over aesthetic infrastructure projects.
