Since the re-election of Ayodele Fayose as the governor of Ekiti State in the June 21, 2014 governorship election, the phrase, “stomach infrastructure” has become a common lexicon in Nigeria’s political lexicon. Fayose had defeated the incumbent governor, Kayode Fayemi, in an election that was keenly contested by both aspirants. Fayose’s landslide victory was attributed to the distribution of food items (which is referred to as stomach infrastructure) to the people of Ekiti as a form of his campaign strategy, which was widely condemned by the All Progressives Congress and well-meaning Nigerians.

As if that criticism was not enough, on his swearing-in day, in his inaugural speech, Fayose declared that his administration would appoint a “Special Adviser on Stomach Infrastructure” to cushion the effect of hunger staring the people in the face.

According to The PUNCH (October 17, 2014) Fayose said, “Today, I declare peace, prosperity, progress, employment, food and stomach infrastructure. I will dedicate myself to your service; I will banish hunger in your midst; I will work hard to put food on your table. Whether they call it food infrastructure is their business because I’m going to appoint a special adviser on stomach infrastructure.”

“If I put car on the road and I’m hungry and my children can’t go to school, that car is meaningless. But putting food inside the stomach is very important. I’m breeding your chicken for Christmas; I’m getting your rice ready to do stomach infrastructure…”

Fayose’s “stomach infrastructure” agenda cannot be seen to be an effective way of exterminating poverty from among the people. It is a cruel act of making the people dependent on his administration for survival instead of being self reliant.

Going by the popular maxim that, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”, Fayose’s role should be to ensure that his administration provides a conducive environment for the people to enjoy in terms of providing job for thousands of the unemployed youths in the state; empowering the women as well as working out plans to give soft loans to farmers that food may be available in the land. Distributing food items to the people will only encourage idleness since they know that government would always be responsible for that.

When Pa Lamidi Adedibu died in Ibadan years ago, many people reportedly wept and wailed in his house for many days which in my opinion is not because of the love they had for him but because of the fact that there would no longer be free food for them after his demise.

Similarly, many people were equally reported to have lost their lives while several sustained injuries in two different times at the late Chief Olusola Saraki’s residence in Kwara State, in a stampede that occurred when they were trying to collect their share of the free food Saraki usually distributed during Sallah celebrations. How could our leaders, in the name of liberality subject their people to perpetual poverty, mental bankruptcy and death? This is cruel and wickedness of the highest order. It is our collective responsibility to rise up and condemn this vicious and barbaric act.

There is hunger in the country, no doubt, and I’m not against reaching out to the poor but it is better done by empowering the people to fend for themselves. It is not all about food distribution. When Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness by the devil, he overcame him by quoting the scripture that, “Man shall not live by bread alone” despite the fact that he (Jesus) was seriously hungry at the time. There are many talented youths with viable business ideas who lack initial capital to start their small scale businesses. It will be a welcome development if such people are encouraged by giving them loans to start with. By the way, how many people would be beneficiaries of the famed “stomach infrastructure”?