The Labour Party (LP) holds the Federal Government accountable for stampedes over food and other palliatives, which claimed lives in parts of the country lately.
It said it was caused by what the party called an “epidemic of hunger,” asking the government to address current economic challenges before the suffering of Nigerians gets worse.
LP’s National Secretary, Alhaji Umar Farouk, was reacting on Monday to the death of about 65 Nigerians in the last few days in Oyo, Anambra states, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), resulting from scrambling for food, noting that the “stampedes have become one too many.”
He stated, “The loss of this magnitude of lives at a time when Nigeria is not facing any natural epidemic was a pointer to the fact that hunger could be the worst epidemic a people can face.”
In a statement by the party’s scribe, he recalled that 40 children died during a stampede at a carnival in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital; another 20 residents of the Okija community in Anambra State lost their lives in a similar stampede, while on the same day, more than 10 people died following a stampede in the FCT.
He noted further, “All these unfortunate incidents occurred in similar circumstances. While one happened when one of the Catholic churches in the FCT was distributing food items to vulnerable persons, the Okija, Anambra state incident happened during a palliative distribution by a notable philanthropist. So also, the Ibadan, Oyo State, was an event funded by a popular royalty. The bottom line is that there is hunger in the land.
“According to the World Bank, in 2023, the poverty rate in Nigeria was estimated to be 38.9%, with 87 million Nigerians living below the poverty line. However, presently, the poverty rate in Nigeria is estimated to be 40.7%. This made Nigeria the second-largest poor population in the world, after India.
“It is only poverty that made some Nigerians go scooping fuel from accident scenes, resulting in infernos, which brought about hundreds of casualties. This happened on several occasions in the last year.
“Also, the National Bureau of Statistics survey revealed that more than 2 million people have been kidnapped in Nigeria in the last year and that Nigerians paid a cumulative $1.42 billion to kidnappers within the same period.
“One major reason why people resort to crime is due to hunger. Nigerians in their millions have been subjected to hunger arising from other reasons such as rising inflation and poor economic management. The economic reforms of the Tinubu administration have caused untold hardship to Nigerians. Hunger is turning into an epidemic, and not many people can survive this situation.
“The Labour Party, prior to the 2023 general election, had warned that unless we change our consumption policies to a productive policy, the economy will be in serious jeopardy. We are therefore calling on the government to scale down most of its agenda in 2025 and redirect its policies towards food production. Over 70 per cent of Nigeria’s land resources are lying waste. The aquatic economy is prostrate, and the ministries in charge of these sectors should be made to function.”
“Finally, the protection of lives and property is the cardinal purpose of the government. But as we can see, the lives of Nigerians no longer matter that much. While a large number of Nigerians have been wasted by the butcher knife of the kidnappers, many simply get killed while trying to survive at all costs.
“Nothing tangible is being done by the government to ameliorate the hunger crisis and check the poverty level in Nigeria. The government must simply sit up and put their acts together.
“The statistics are not good, and enough of taking the people for granted.”
