DYING FOR A HANDOUT: THE DESPERATE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL IN NIGERIA

DYING FOR A HANDOUT: THE DESPERATE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL IN NIGERIA

In the past week, Nigerians, and indeed, the international community, were greeted with the unfortunate stories of hapless Nigerians who lost their lives in a stampede while attempting to secure a handout to keep their bodies and souls together.

The recent events, the stark reality of the daily struggle in Nigeria where it is becoming increasingly difficult for families and individuals to afford the basic necessities of life, capture the desperation and tragedy of a people trapped in rising poverty levels and hunger amidst skyrocketing inflation and attendant high cost of living.

Within a week, about 70 people, including children, were stampeded to death while scrambling for food to keep their hunger at bay, while a yet to be determined number were hospitalised.

At Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, where the incident first happened in the midweek (wednesday, November 18, 2024), 35 children lost their lives, while six were hospitalised.

The organisers of the Ibadan children’s Christmas Funfair – Queen Noami Ogunwusi, and a local radio station (Agidigbo 88.7FM), had promised to distribute food parcels and cash to the first 5,000 children that showed up at the event.

However, over 7,500 people, including parents, turned up for the event with some arriving even before sunrise.

“Some people slept at the school gate a night before the event because they wanted to be among the first 5,000 that would be given access to the carnival. Before 06:30 am, the venue had recorded the estimated number,” said Lanre Kardiri, the Zonal Coordinator of Nigeria’s Emergency Management Agency, NEMA.

The chaotic rush that followed left 35 children dead. The organisers have since been arrested.

Two days after the Ibadan incident, another stampede occurred, killing at least 10 people, at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama, Abuja, where the church had planned to distribute palliative to the struggling masses. The event had attracted more than 3,000 attendees.

Just like the Ibadan incident, so many people arrived at the venue before sunrise to get a share of the palliatives.

Several eye witness reports described the scene as chaotic, revealing that seven of the deceased were children.

“10 people have been reported dead, including children. We just received a call that they have passed on.

“Over 3,000 people came out to receive the palliative. It’s unfortunate. Some of them arrived as early as 4:00 am. Most of those present were residents of Mpape, Gishiri village and other nearby settlements.

“The stampede occurred between 7:00 am and 8:00 am,” an eye witness, a mother of five, said.

A similar incident that occurred at Okija, Anambra State on the same day the Abuja tragedy happened, claimed 22 lives with many, again, hospitalized.

The tragic incident occurred during a rice sharing event (an annual tradition) organized by Obijackson Foundation led by Chief Ernest Obiejesi to support the less privileged during the festive season.

These incidents are not the first. On February 23, this year, seven people died in a stampede that occurred during a rice distribution exercise organised by the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, to help ameliorate the economic hardship in the country.

Drivers of poverty

The reasons for these are not far-fetched. Nigerians have been grappling with an austere economic condition in the last couple of months despite reform initiatives of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s led government since he took office in May 2023.

The reforms, especially the naira floatation and fuel subsidy removal, have been severally blamed for the worsening economic situation, which has seen the prices of food priced beyond reach.

Also, the average prices of locally produced staples have increased faster than average inflation, making it increasingly impossible for most families to afford.

Inflationary pressure, naira devaluation, skyrocketing energy cost, and high interest rate environment, among others, have all combined in deepening the poverty levels and inequality among Nigerians.

Inflation rate, for instance, has been rising steadily in the last four years with the intensity increasing since May 2023.

Just before the inauguration of the new government in April 2023, the inflation rate stood at 22.22 percent, but quickly rose to 22.41 percent in May, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS. The intensity has been sustained with the figure peaking at 34.60 percent in November 2024 amidst persistent price pressure. The November 2024 inflation figure indicated a 6.40 percentage point increase compared to 28.20 percent reported a year ago.

Food inflation has also seen a similar pattern of increase, rising by 15.32 percentage points to 39.93 percent in November 2024 from 24.61 percent in April 2023, driven by higher prices in tubers (yam, cocoyam), cereals (rice, maize grains), and oils and fats (palm oil, vegetable oil). It had reached a peak of 40.53 percent in April this year before slowing down.

Similarly, the pump price of petrol has risen by about 489 percent to N1,030 per litre from N175 per litre in May 2023, while the average price of 5kg cooking gas jumped to N7,939.29 in October 2024 from N4,360.69 in May 2023 due to the rising exchange rate.

The official exchange rate of the Naira to the dollar, another driver of economic hardship, which is perhaps the worst and determinant of the other factors, has risen by 246.43 percent to N1,596/$ as at December 26, 2024 from an average N460.702/$ in May 2023.

These have consequently led to a surge in the average cost of healthy diet (CoHD) for an adult per day to N1,346 in September 2024 (the latest figure from NBS) from N858 in January 2024.

Staggering poverty level in Nigeria

Consequently, the level of poverty and the number of poor people in Nigeria have continued to soar.

The World Bank said that inflation had pushed an estimated four million more Nigerians into poverty in the first five months of 2023 with more than half of the population, over 115 million being poor in 2023.

This is an increase of nearly 35 million people since 2018/19.

Again, data from the NBS on multidimensional poverty indicates that 62.9 percent of the population (133 million) were multidimensional poor in 2022.

Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund, IMF, warned that Nigeria is grappling with a compounding cost-of-living crisis, worsened by stagnant per-capita growth, poverty, and heightened food insecurity.

In its report titled: “IMF Executive Board Concludes Post Financing Assessment with Nigeria”, the international lender said: ”Nigeria faces a difficult external environment and wide-ranging domestic challenges. External financing (market and official) is scarce, and global food prices have surged, reflecting the repercussions of conflict and geo-economic fragmentation.

“Per-capita growth in Nigeria has stalled, poverty and food insecurity are high, exacerbating the cost-of-living crisis. Low reserves and very limited fiscal space constrain the authorities’ option space.”

Nigerians recount survival strategies

Meanwhile, Nigerians have shared the various strategies they have adopted in the face of the excruciating economic hardship. From foregoing favorite meals to reducing the number of times they feed in a day, Nigerians make adjustments on a daily basis.

Njideka Mmaduabuchi is a mother of four, whose family lives in a makeshift building in an empty land in the Satellite areas of Lagos. She says that her family sometimes forgo two meals a day depending on the availability.

“The rising cost of living is very frustrating. We can hardly afford two meals per day in my family,” she says. “It’s so sad. Most times, we delay our feeding until midday and after that, we would not eat again until the next day. On the days my children go to school, they make do with the food they went to school with. That is what we have been doing in my family to survive this hard time,” she said.

Also lamenting the devastating impact of the economy, Mr Uka Chukwudi, a father of six, who also resides in Satellite area of Lagos, told Vanguard that his family has since stopped taking tea and bread due to the increasing cost of beverages and bread coupled with the size of his family. “Surviving in Nigeria is no child’s play. I have a large family, so eating certain things like drinking tea is a luxury we cannot afford. What we basically do to get by is to concentrate on any food item I am able to buy and continue eating it until it finishes. “If, for instance, we buy a bag of rice, we will continue to cook it anyhow and eat until we run out of rice before we think of switching to another thing.”

Shaking his head, Benson Chuks, simply said that his family has almost stopped eating yam due to the cost. “We are lovers of yam in my family but I can count how many times we have eaten yam this year due to the increasing cost. The price of yam continues to go up everyday. So, instead of buying a small tuber of yam for N6,000, and finishing everything at once, we look for other alternatives. Though rice and beans are expensive, they are still cheaper than yams.

“My wife loves unripe plantain porridge but we have not eaten it this year. It’s annoying because one can barely feed again.”

Economy experts highlight issues at stake, proffer solutions

Nigerians across different quarters have blamed the underlying issue of food shortage, resulting in excruciating hunger for the stampede deaths. But beyond this, they also blamed poor crowd management by the organisers of the events and impatience among Nigerians. “There is mass hunger in Nigeria. Ordinarily, Nigerians are unruly and the severe hunger is pushing people into more desperation,” remarked Mr. David Adonri, a financial expert and the Vice Chairman of Highcap Securities Limited.

Mobilise against insecurity — David Adonri

In his submission, Adonri blamed the huge increase in demand driven by population explosion and the damaging effect of insecurity on the agrarian economy.

He argued that insecurity in the agrarian communities has led to a supply gap with both the poor and the rich struggling to access food.

He warned that the food crisis could degenerate into social upheaval if not addressed and called on the government to mobilize against insecurity, implement policies to address the supply gap and increase food production.

“Beneath the food crisis in Nigeria are the huge increase in demand caused by population explosion and the rising damage that insecurity is inflicting on the agrarian economy which constrains supply, thereby leading to a huge supply gap. “Successive governments have treated population control with levity in Nigeria and the consequences have started to crystallize.

“Continuing from the disastrous administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, this administration has so far failed to mobilize the full might of the country against insecurity in order to rescue the agrarian economy.

“The food crisis is a production issue which requires very stern security measures and massive fiscal policy intervention to redress. Both the poor and the rich are groaning under the weight of food scarcity.

“Without addressing the scarcity or supply gap, any financial inducement to alleviate poverty will be inflationary and compound the woes of poor people,” he said.

“The government is treating the food crisis with kid gloves. It can degenerate into a social upheaval of unimaginable proportion. First, the government should mobilize the country for total war against terrorism and banditry in order to liberate the agrarian economy. “Since the current security architecture has woefully failed for the past ten years to exterminate the bandits and terrorists, a new security architecture that President Tinubu promised to establish should come on stream without further delay.

“Although the population damage has already occurred, drastic efforts should be made to control the country’s population growth,” Adonri said.

Implement policies that target food production —Muda Yusuf

Speaking in the same vein, Dr. Muda Yusuf, Managing Director, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises, CPPE, said though the main issue borders on crowd management, there is the need for the government to address the underlying issues of poverty, food availability and insecurity.

He also highlighted the importance of supporting the agricultural sector and addressing insecurity to boost food production and improve prices.

“For me, the bigger issue in this stampede tragedy has to do with crowd management. Of course, the number of people that have turned out for these palliatives has increased significantly because of the prevailing economic condition, especially with respect to poverty. But, nonetheless, if those who are giving out these palliatives had been very conscious of the importance of crowd management, I’m sure some of these tragedies would have been averted. “So, I think we need to take the issues of crowd management more seriously, and the need for whoever is coming up with palliative initiatives to consult the appropriate authorities to ensure that the venues are appropriate and the management of the crowd is also appropriate.

“There’s no doubt that the level of poverty has increased, and this may have contributed to this additional pressure, but crowd control and management is extremely very important,” Yusuf said.

Continuing, he said: “As for the food availability and cost of food, I think what is important is to support our agricultural sector, and more importantly, to address the issue of insecurity because over 90 percent of the food we consume in Nigeria are produced in Nigeria. The prices are not directly related to foreign exchange.

“Although the inflationary effect of foreign exchange could also spill over to food prices, the biggest challenge we have with food prices has to do with insecurity.

“So, the government needs to redouble its efforts to tackle the problem of insecurity so that we can scale up our agricultural production, particularly food production.

“And that is also feeding into our agro-allied industries because those of them that need grains and other inputs from the farmers are not getting adequate supplies. So, that is also an issue.

“And of course, the foreign exchange environment is also a contributory factor;

It’s also fuelling inflation across all sectors.”

”The authorities need to be more deliberate to come up with policies that target food production, support the farmers support poultry farmers and agricultural mechanisation, ensure adequate security, provide agricultural financing, and support those who are committed to mechanising agriculture because many of the major investors in commercial farming have also abandoned their farms because of insecurity.”

There’s need for effective leadership, poverty alleviation strategies – FSL Securities
Victor Chiazor, Head, Research at FSL Securities, said: “Given that an estimate of over 30% of Nigerians live below the poverty line, this event does not come as a surprise as one of the major needs of the poor is food, which was what drew the crowd to the location where we had the stampede.

“Our leaders will have to lead by example. With the level of poverty and hunger in the society, it is quite unfair that some of our leaders continue to live in affluence and rob their wealth in the faces of the poor. “This behaviour needs to change. Our leaders must begin to act in ways that the poor know that they understand their pain and are working hard to make life better for them.

“Issues of corruption, leakages, reckless government spending, diversion of relief materials and government palliatives have to stop.

“Also government policies that will aid in increasing production will have to be introduced, especially in the area of access to cheap capital. Access to affordable mass transit systems and discount food markets for the poor will need to be introduced to support the poor and aging population given the high cost of goods triggered by the elevated inflationary levels.

“These are measures that can ease the burden given the high cost of living until the broader economy begins to normalize from the impact of the weakened Naira and the high cost of energy and PMS amongst others.”

Reverse harmful policies – Renaissanceafrica
Ejike Nwuba, CEO, Renaissanceafrica Company, blamed failed policies of Tinubu’s administration, saying that they have exacerbated poverty and hardship and called for reversal of the harmful policies, including the removal of fuel subsidy and floatation of the Naira.

“The reason for the scramble for food is the abject poverty and penury this administration has plunged Nigerians into.

“The hyperinflation occasioned by the anachronistic policies of the present regime is speedily wiping out the middle class and has skyrocketed the prices of food and basic necessities.

“What we witnessed in Abuja, Okija and Ibadan where scores of people died scrambling for food is a battle for survival.

“This administration must speedily reverse its harmful policies strangulating Nigerians,” he said.