Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Monday raised alarm over the rising hunger and poverty levels in Nigeria, warning that the worsening hardship was pushing millions of citizens to the brink, with no clear evidence that the government had solutions.
Atiku, who was the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of failing to address the hunger crisis that has deepened since taking office.
In a statement issued by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, the former vice president declared:
“At this time, there are no manifest signs that this government is capable of addressing the grim issue of severe hunger staring the poor in the face after two years in power.”
He warned that unchecked poverty and hunger could trigger widespread unrest, citing historic revolutions that were fuelled by similar conditions.
“The French Revolution, the 1917 Russian Revolution and the Arab Spring in which a young man caught in the maelstrom of unbearable frustration set himself ablaze in a development which occasioned violent socio-political eruptions starting out from Tunisia to engulf the Middle-East and North Africa.
Back home here in Nigeria, it may not be out of place to argue that even the ENDSARS protest was fuelled by the traumatising frustration of hunger and insensitivity on the part of the government.
Whatever reform the Tinubu government might claim to be undertaking, the point remains that food insecurity is a daily occurrence nationwide.
There is no government worth its salt that does not place priority on the welfare and security of the people.”
Atiku added that the worsening situation should serve as an opportunity for deep reflection, stressing that economic hardship has historically been the spark for major social upheavals.
He further argued that reforms must focus on people and not the other way around. “Whether the present powers accept it or not, the reality of our existence is that the poor are increasingly dying of hunger while the majority of the living poor exists at the mercy of the ill-advised policies of this government,” he said.
