1. The
National Association of Nigerian Traders
(NANTS) and West African Institute
for Trade and Agricultural Development (WAITAD) observe that the dreaded
COVID-19 pandemic has gradually enveloped the global economy and the
populations in fear, resulting in automatic and unwitting declaration of ‘State of Emergency’ on the Health
sector by several Governments across the world where the disease has killed
many and impacted negatively on the economies. We note that where many deadlier
diseases which have even taken more lives have failed to attract respect and
attention, the corona virus has seamlessly been saluted and gained more
prominence with heavy budgetary allocations accorded thereto as a way of
appeasing, pacifying or assuaging its ravaging popularity.
2. NANTS
and WAITAD further note that COVID-19 has caused a serious depletion in the
revenue of many countries, especially countries like Nigeria that are largely
dependent on oil revenue for sustenance. The disease has literarily widely exposed
the unsustainability of Nigeria’s unfortunate reliance on oil and the mirage of
reclining on the vagaries and impulses of international oil market economy. The
result is that all indices of an overpriced economy awaiting a fall (and
essentially the refusal by successive administrations to diversify) are
speedily manifesting in continuous sluggish growth, low revenue/GDP ratio,
constrained fiscal space, low foreign and local investments, declining foreign
reserves, depreciating Excess Crude Account, increase in pressure on the Naira
as crude oil sales receipt decline with the unattractive oil price which at a
time got to about USD 22/barrel.
3. We
note with serious concern that while funding and governance attention have been
deposited at the feet of the health sector, and perhaps rightly so, under the
present emergency situation; however, food security and the livelihoods of the
population which is another looming disease facing the entire population (and
perhaps potentially deadlier in propensity) appears not being contemplated for
urgency of strategic planning by the Government at all levels. The reason is
that COVID-19 has resulted in the lockdown of the country in a bid to reduce or
curtail the spread; but the negative impact of such lockdown on the economy with
regard to job livelihoods losses as well as the overall food security implications
would be manifesting much sooner. We are strongly concerned that at the moment,
producers, transporters, traders and other production value chain actors are
asked to stay at home thereby implicating a stagnated economy sinking further
into the doldrums courtesy of the COVID-19 induced policies and regulations. We
note that the above situation has occasioned the recent hike in price of food
commodities in the markets across the country where few goods (edible
commodities) are chased by several mouths, and sadly with limited cash at hand.
The situation leaves the traders off the hook of culpability of accomplice in the
conspiracy of high price of food commodities, especially considering the
complexity, high transportation costs and risks associated with moving
commodities from one State to another which are exacerbated by boundary
closures for fear of ‘Corona’.
4. NANTS
and WAITAD however again call on all traders nationwide to mobilize the milk of
kindness and desist from unnecessary hiking of food prices at such an unholy
moment and challenging period. We appeal to our members to inculcate and learn
from the sacrifice of love made by Doctors, Nurses and other medical workers
who are daily risking their lives at the forefront of the battle against Corona
virus disease and treating patients/victims of the dreaded disease.
5. NANTS
and WAITAD wish to notify the Government of Nigeria of an imminent second and
perhaps most dangerous battle ahead, which is gross food insecurity. This
awakening note has become imperative and indeed very URGENT given that the food
sector in Nigeria has of late been undergoing a siege by three (3) hydra-headed
demons, namely: (i) the Boko haram insurgency which displaced several farmers (over
80%) from the North East zone of the country; (ii) the herdsmen-farmers crises
which turned farmers from the North Central and once ‘food basket of the
nation’ to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs); (iii) banditry and kidnapping
which made inhabitants of North West to desert their farms in honour of the
dreaded killers. In all of these, our lamentation is based on the fact that the
gains made by the commendable policy approach by Government of Nigeria in
closing the land border against food commodities smuggled into the country, and
which rightly culminated in reduction of rice and poultry import bills among
others, are speedily being eroded by the Covid-19 pandemic.
6. NANTS
and WAITAD therefore appeal to the Government to urgently awaken Nigerian
economic managers including the President’s Economic Advisory Council to begin immediate
considerations and thinking outside the box preparatory to addressing post
COVID-19 economic environment, particularly vis-Ã -vis the future of food
security before it comes too late.
7. On
their part, even as the lockdown persists, NANTS and WAITAD insist that the
Parliamentarians at all levels must devise ways of convening virtual meetings
and deliberations via ICT tools, and by so doing exhibit the character of true
representation of their constituencies beyond the rhetoric of handouts and
palliatives and move towards strategic thinking the leads to economic recovery
and sustainability of food on the table of their electorates.
8. Perhaps
most importantly in this quagmire, NANTS and WAITAD call for an immediate drawing
of the sword by the Nigerian Military to abruptly end the raging and long drawn
battle and finally decimate and completely erase insurgency, banditry,
kidnapping and all other nagging security detractors in the country. We note
that with the very recent acquisition and possession of new amour, equipment
and hardware by military, there must be no further excuse for allowing funny
characters to dot and envelop the nation’s territory with fear. We can no longer treat any of these perilous
actors with kid gloves while our people are condemned to languishing in fear, squalor,
poverty, degradation and food insecurity.
9. Sequel
to the above, we therefore recommend a radical but strategic dispersion of all
our military men to the theatres of operation for quick recovery so that our
farmers may gain the confidence to go back to their farms for cultivation with
the fast approaching rains. Further to this, we also recommend that following
such inevitable cleansing, Government and the Military hierarchy should consider
the allocation of massive land to the military to go into more concerted agricultural
production to help ease food availability and accessibility in the Country.
10. In
the same light, we recommend that for their mandatory service, 70% or more of
the National Youth Corps members (especially those with agriculture and food
technology related disciplines and background) be allocated land by various
Governments for integrated agricultural cultivation practices and be provided
financial support and agronomic capacity handholding by Agric-based
Organizations that can trigger increased productivity in the various crops and
value chains to bridge the imminent food unavailability gap. The farms
belonging to these Youth Corps members and the Military personnel could be
provided attractive conditions and exit strategy that transfers complete
ownership with time thereby encouraging commitment and even serving as
retirement strategy option. This way, the nation would have raised an army of entrepreneurs
and wealth creators that would be exporting food commodities in no distant time
and raking non-oil based foreign revenue rather than waiting on the queue to
overgrow the job market and non-existent white collar jobs.
11. While
we commend the Government for taking a bold step in dipping hands into the
nation’s food reserves for distribution as part of palliatives to vulnerable
members of the society, we however note that such commendable approach may end
in a disastrous signal of an impending food insecurity and its poverty
escalation consequences if restocking ‘against the rainy day’ is not quickly
considered and effected.
12. Consequently,
we call on the Government to consider fashioning modes of providing direct
support to farmers and their National Organizations which are capable of monitoring
and holding them accountable for repayments. We further opines that it is
indeed time for State Governments to consider investments in agribusiness by
empowering their citizens in the rural communities to invest along all the
value chains in the sector. Government and Nigerians should also maintain
aggressive insistence on patronage of our local food commodities so as to fight
capital flight.
13. Beyond
the subject of food security is the need for Government to act immediately on
ways of rejigging the economy by producing an economic blueprint that seeks to
address the short, medium and long term economic development plan and the unfortunate
realities currently facing the nation courtesy of Covid-19 and other related trade,
revenue and macroeconomic shortfalls. We are of the opinion that good as our
COVID-19 approach is, if we however empty all our resources, time and efforts
in chasing corona virus, we may soon be left with malnutrition disaster of
monumental proportion, and indeed an economy slipping off our hands and sinking
into a fresh round of recession.
14. We
cannot wait until COVID-19 is over. The time to act is NOW.
For: 1. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN
TRADERS – NANTS &
2. WEST AFRICAN INSTITUTE FOR
TRADE AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (WAITAD)
Ken UKAOHA, Esq. (PhD)
Secretariat
President
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