Eighty per cent of the people in the world have no food safety net. When disaster strikes-the economy gets blown, people lose a job, flood, war, conflict, bad governance, all of those things there is nothing to fall back on - Josette Sheeran

A disaster is an incident that can be averted if necessary measures were put in place but are the government taking those steps? Nigeria is currently facing a natural disaster which is flooding, and it has been a reoccurring issue.

A few days ago, some parts of Nigeria particularly in Kebbi, no fewer than thirty-two lives were lost and at least over 10 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps had sprung up in some of those affected areas to accommodate the displaced residents. The flooding wreaked havoc to houses, roads, schools, hospitals and farmlands.

In Nigeria, rice is the most consumed staple food, with a consumption per capita of 32kg. The government looked into the production of local rice because, in the past decade, consumption has increased by 4.7%, almost four times the global consumption growth rate, and reached 6.4 million tonnes in 2017, accounting for 20% of rice consumption. The significant feat was achieved due to rice production in Nigeria and had reached a peak of 3.7 million tonnes in 2017.

In a statement made by the President, through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, he expressed his concerns over the loss of lives and properties caused by the flooding in the affected communities. In his words, “I am particularly sad over this incident because it’s a setback to our efforts to boost local rice production as part of measures to stop food importation.” He also noted that “Kebbi State is the focal point of our policy to produce rice locally as part of this administration’s commitment to agricultural revival which suffered relative neglect in favour of food importation.”

He further stated that “This bad news could not have come at a worse time for our farmers and other Nigerians who looked forward to a bumper harvest this year to reduce the current astronomical rise in the costs of food items in the markets.”

Is this a sign that there will be food scarcity in the coming days? If yes, how will the government prevent this? These are questions that bug the heart of the citizens.

The federal government has since sent relief materials to the affected communities whose over 20,000 hectares of farmlands were washed away by the floods. The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, handed the relief materials on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari to the affected farmers when she presented COVID-19 palliatives and flood advocacy materials to the state last Wednesday. Thus, I hope the government take necessary measures to curb this prevailing disaster in the country.