In march this year, I was in Lagos and wrote of how FoodClique Support Initiative, a Hunger intervention organization was providing thousands of meals to down trodden Nigerians and the immediate impact that assistance proffered considering the several permutations on hunger statistics that showcased millions of individuals in deep conditions of inequality and food deprivation without respite. Today, the current situation of hunger is gaining traction albeit largely within the trend filled mobile elitist circle due to an election that was mostly decided upon against the incumbent Ekiti state Governor for failure to provide social welfare, or in Ekiti terms - stomach infrastructure.

Moving on, Nigeria's hunger situation as it stands  is not just about a lack of food, but also the consequence of bad governance. For instance, little is currently known of government programs and development agencies aimed towards action against malnutrition and hunger. The Millennium development goals project performance tracking for Nigeria shows no progress as extreme poverty and hunger still thrives. About 70% of our current populace still live in critical and distinguished poverty and as the day goes by, the lacuna between the poor and rich keeps spreading. With that percentage figure, apparently eight out of every ten Nigerians still live in poverty. The seeming growth in the economy has failed to generated adequate employment as a large majority of Nigerian youths are either unemployed or not gainfully employed. According to the international indicator for extreme poverty, 70.2% of Nigerians live on less than 1 dollar or N124 per day- and the proportion is still increasing as Nigeria is ranked also as the 17th least developed country of the world by the United Nations Human Development report of 2007.  This is a menace in our hands as most often, people go to bed hungry in Nigeria and those who cannot, resort to stealing in order to have access to certain basic necessities of life.

With the above statistics dining with me daily, I am always forced to ask what hinders our nation from purposeful action towards eradication of this problem?, what stops the Government from critically addressing the issues of malnutrition and hunger through effective and strong policies?, what stops the private sector from participation and involvement in the crisis of hunger in our communities?. The answers aren't far fetched though as indices show that among our urban elitist dwellers(Rich and gainfully employed citizens), hygienic nutrition is staple and with hunger not vicariously experienced, they never know how it feels. In juxtaposition with rural settlers and unemployed urban denizens, there is a glaring contradiction as for many in these poor Nigerian communities, a meal does sincere wonders and by no means is it looked down upon by the recipient be it nutritious or otherwise. This is why the FoodClique Support Initiative model continues to be life saving by and large as through their organization and concerted efforts by her volunteers, they are helping to tackle the hunger crisis ravaging our communities by offering nutritious intervention meals that translate to immense joy for individuals living in penury. The FoodClique team even recognizes that there is more to the hunger menace than simply an absence of food and in their missions, advocates for the reduction of food waste and empowerment of citizens so as to enable them be useful and make contributions to the society.

Currently, the Ramadan season is at hand and FoodClique is calling on citizens to give towards feeding the needy once more. I enjoin us all to donate our time and resources if possible to this cause. For me, achieving unity in Nigeria requires a conscious decision to tackle basic problems that bedevil us and hunger is at the fore front of this. The FoodClique team for years has opened her doors to provide food hampers for people struggling with hunger and what to eat for SAHUR and IFTAR because in their words, there simply could not be a better time to give than the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is about giving, building our communities, and understanding the challenges hunger brings and whatever it is we give this period, we must all understand that it thoroughly can make a difference in the lives of those who have nothing to eat. Hence, We must support organizations such as FoodClique who are meeting the needs several Nigerians face as Government continues to lag and renege on its duties.

On a final note, we must advocate more than necessary for the requisite Government agencies to place hunger as a national catastrophic problem that needs solutions. Aside tackling hunger being our human obligation, Government Interventions here and there are critically required as well as the setting up of departments to engage on social welfare and community management in order to tackle malnutrition, malnourished children and then poverty would go a long way. Poor families abound in Nigeria and thus Government must heighten work towards reducing this catalog and facilitate growth through development policies that foster access to basic amenities. In essence, actions and implementations of initiatives that address hunger and malnutrition situations have to be prioritized and made sustainable in rural and urban settlements as despite Nigeria's burgeoning prosperity, progress has been minimal in the area of fighting extreme poverty and hunger. The onus falls on us to act as citizens because we live with this menace and thus, allowing hunger to continuously be a challenge for our neighbours must be fought against.

Article written by Toni Eghosa-Kruz Ewone.

For www.foodclique.org


http://www.informationng.com/2014/06/nigeria-a-lack-of-food-and-good-governance.html