OCTOBER 8, 2013 BY EVEREST AMAEFULE,
ABUJA.

The World Bank has said drought may hit some
parts of Africa, including Nigeria, between now
and 2015.
In a report entitled: ‘Africa’s Pulse’, which was
released in Abuja on Monday, the World Bank
listed the other African countries that might
experience the first wave of drought in the
period as Ghana, Cameroun, Cote d’Ivoire,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal and Tanzania.
The report also painted a scenario of what
could happen to agriculture and food prices in
the affected countries in the event of the
predicted drought.
It stated, “In Africa, droughts are recurrent
events, with adverse effects on local
communities and the ecosystem. In a region
where the majority of people depend on farming
or raising animals, droughts inevitably have
very negative consequences.
“The first wave would hit Cameroon, Cote
d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria,
Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda over 2013–15,
and the second wave of drought would hit all
the remaining countries in the region over
2016–18.
“In line with previous studies, drought is
modelled as a temporary shock to productivity
in agriculture. Consistent with similar historical
shocks, a level of productivity shock is chosen
that would reduce agricultural output initially by
around 10 per cent compared to the pre-shock
level.”
It added, “Subsequently, productivity recovers
to its pre-shock level over the next two years.
Following the drop in agricultural output, prices
of agricultural produce and food increase much
faster than the equivalent baseline numbers.
“For Ethiopia, Nigeria, or Zambia, the initial
shock results in an increase in agricultural and
food prices by an additional 15 per cent.
Imports of food products increase significantly
to replace domestic output. Households will
bear the burden of higher food prices.
“Even though wages of unskilled workers rise,
the increase in income is slower than that of
food prices. Since food expenditures constitute
a high share of household budgets, without
government or international intervention, real
consumption would decrease substantially.”
However, Director of Weather Forecasting,
Nigeria Metrological Agency, Mr. Ifeanyi Nnodu,
told our correspondent that the agency had not
received any such signal, adding that it did not
forecast weather for a three-year period.
“I have not seen the report. However, our
weather forecasting is for one year period. We
have released that of 2013 and we are working
on that of 2014,” he said.
The report stated that following the global
financial crisis and recurring climatic volatility
on the continent, a growing number of African
countries were setting up social safety nets to
protect the health and livelihoods of the poor
and vulnerable people during periods of
adversity.
It noted that the safety nets could protect
families from the worst effects of crises and
also contribute to growth as well by allowing
people to raise their incomes.
According to the report, buoyed by rising
private investment in the region and
remittances now worth $33bn a year
supporting household incomes, Gross Domestic
Product growth in Africa will continue to rise
and pick up to 5.3 per cent in 2014 and 5.5 per
cent in 2015.
Strong government investments and higher
production in the mineral resources, agriculture
and service sectors are supporting the bulk of
the economic growth, it said.
The report noted that as Africa’s growth rates
continued to surge with the region becoming
increasingly a magnet for investment and
tourism, while poverty and inequality remained
unacceptably high and the pace of reduction
unacceptably slow.

Source: www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/drought-may-hit-nigeria-others-world-bank/

Another entrant into the repertoire of the 'end time folks'...Lmsao.
Good forewarning tho'. Those that have ears, let them hear. The 'gods' have spoken.

Infomizer: Another entrant into the repertoire of the 'end time folks'...Lmsao.
Good forewarning tho'. Those that have ears, let them hear. The 'gods' have spoken.

Hahaha... end time tinz bah!
Anyway we need brace up for it!

If Nigeria keeps up with it's current developmental strides,it will put in place elements to avoid it hitting the country.I believe already measures are in place to make sure of food availability,if the agricultural reform is successful between now to 2015,we wouldn't worry about it.except nature over-rides man-made plans,we wouldn't experience drought hopefully.