Hunger: Tinubu Urged To Open Nigerian Borders For Cheaper Rice, Others

Hunger: Tinubu urged to open Nigerian borders for cheaper rice, others

…says Nigerians trade in local currencies with neighbouring countries not dollars

By Aisha Musa

The Campaign for Equal Rights and Opportunities for all Nigerians, CERON, has urged President Bola Tinubu to open the Nigerian borders to allow for the importation of rice and other foodstuffs from neighbouring counties where transactions are conducted in Naira and the local currencies of the said countries.

CERON noted that it has become obvious that Nigeria with its huge size and population cannot meet the food needs of its citizens through local production which has contributed to the troubling food shortages and rising prices of essential commodities.

The group in a statement issued Sunday in Makurdi recalled that “the sudden surge in the cost of food items started rearing its ugly head when former President Muhammadu Buhari short Nigerian borders and all pleas to have him reopen them to allow essential food come in fell on deaf ears.

“What followed after Nigerian borders were short was the steady rise in the price of rice and other foodstuff in the name of encouraging local production; and from that time till today food prices particularly rice have been in the upward trend.

“Buhari’s era marked the beginning of the steady rise of prices of foodstuff because our borders were short and we were not producing enough to feed our population. What followed was mass suffering all because of a bad policy that was intended to encourage rice farming but subjected the people to poverty and hunger. And today the situation has gotten out of hand. “The hunger has become unbearable. And it is dangerous to leave Nigerians living in this condition because the anger is getting to its peak. We advise that all steps be taken to douse the tension.

“While we all desire that we produce enough to feed our population, we cannot run away from the fact that it cannot be done suddenly. The government should not through its policies encourage hunger in the land.

“That is why we did not expect the present administration to sustain that ill-informed policy of shorting our borders to goods like rice and other essential items coming from neighbouring countries where the medium of exchange has always been our Naira and the local currencies of the countries involved.

“No doubt Nigerians are hungry and very angry at the moment given the current economic downturn and the Federal Government will do well to open up our borders to allow our people and peoples of neighbouring countries to bring in cheaper  foodstuffs from these countries which they usually trade in our local currencies.