Hunger crisis: Nigerian CSOs bemoan “government’s insensitivity”

A coalition of Nigerian civil society organizations has called on the federal and state governments to offer immediate support to families and survivors of hunger-induced mass deaths in food distribution stampedes.

The coalition includes organizations such as New Nigeria Movers, Good Citizens for Peace & Progress Initiative, and Save Democracy Mega Alliance, Good Citizens Initiative and Dr. Lloyd Ukwu, President National Democratic Convention (NADECO) USA.

Others are Volunteers For Fundamental Change In Nigeria, Community Structure Foundation for Good Governance,  Reformation Movement Of Nigeria, and
National Rescue Congress(NRC).

In their press statement obtained by Diaspora Digital Media (DDM), they expressed heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and casualties of the recent food distribution in the country.

The stampedes in Ibadan, Oyo state, Okija community in Anambra state, and the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama, Abuja.

The organizations attributed the tragic incidents to the devastating effects of economic hardship, government failure, and multi-dimensional poverty.

They claimed the situation has been exacerbated by the Bola Tinubu-APC administration’s economic policies.

Some dead victims of the Okija stampedes

“The Tinubu-APC administration in particular,however,has seen to unprecedented depths of poverty, unemployment and desperation as the economic downturn that came in the wake of its inauguration in May of last year has left countless individuals and families without access to basic necessities as food, healthcare and shelter, complicated by an intractable plague of historic inflation mallaise.

“Despite repeated warnings and pleas to alleviate the federal government’s toxic social-economic policies through protests and strikes by organized labour,the government has continued to ignore the agonies of the citizenry,failed to provide relief and improve access to medicare, leaving vulnerable citizens to suffer in silence,succumb in frightening numbers across the country to daily plunging low life expectancy,” the statement reads in part.

They added that they have become increasingly “outraged and devastated by the loss of whole human lives of Nigerians across our country during this Christmas season because of their hunger induced desperation to have a mere 5kg bag of rice shared by religious leaders and philanthropists owing to the government’s failure to address basic needs, culminating in the economic crisis that gave room to these catastrophic consequences.”

The CSOs urged Government at the State and federal levels to provide emergency financial aid to struggling families and individuals, identified through reliable and corruption free mechanisms, increase funding for social services,including food banks, subsidized healthcare, housing system,cottage regulated small and medium cluster trading, production and exchange of goods and services.”

They continued: “the federal and various state governments of the victims should also expeditiously adequate rehabilitating financial and material compensations to the families of the victims, casualties and survivors alike.”

Biting hunger in Nigeria

Nigeria is grappling with a severe hunger crisis, with millions of citizens struggling to access basic necessities like food, healthcare, and shelter.

The situation has been exacerbated by the country’s economic downturn, which has led to widespread poverty, unemployment, and desperation.

The recent incidents of hunger-induced mass deaths in food distribution stampedes are an indicator of the devastating consequences of the government’s failure to address the economic crisis.

The Nigerian government has been criticized for its handling of the economic crisis, with many accusing it of prioritizing politics over the welfare of its citizens.