Food blockade: Implications and lessons learnt

t may have come and gone, but there were lessons learnt. ELEOJO IDACHABA in this report chronicles the implications and lessons learnt from the recent food blockade from the northern part of the country to the south.

For nearly two weeks, states in the southern part of the country went through what analysts call artificial hunger brought about by a deliberate food blockade from the northern part of the country otherwise referred to as the food basket of the nation.


While this lasted, prices of foodstuff rose beyond the reach of common men as common foodstuffs like tomato, onions, assorted grains, root crops like carrot and groundnuts which form part of the staple food in the south were no longer affordable. That was not all, cattle farmers also stopped shipping their products to all southern markets in such a manner that meat and dairy products disappeared from the markets.
This prompted a lot of reactions regarding the implications and lessons learnt in order to avoid such situation in the future.

The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) had threatened to sustain the food besiegement until the safety of its members in the south was guaranteed. According to Aliyu Mohammed, the coordinator of the Kwara state chapter, “Except those who may decide to take other routes to get to the state or those who may act in defiance to the directive, the traders would not come from the north and those who come may be stopped or sanctioned.”


Consequently, there was diversion of food items to Niger Republic and Cameroon as trucks containing food items were stopped from moving south at Jebba in Niger state.
Abdullahi Aliu, the national president of the Northern Consensus Movement, said, “As I speak to you, my people are already shipping their goods, onions, tomatoes and what have you to Niger Republic, Cameroon, and other neighbouring countries through Illela border. Already, we have diversified. Our people have already found a way of not wasting their goods. They will not be wasted. They would be sold just like the way they were being moved to the South-west, South-east or South-south. So, my people would end up losing nothing.”

A journalist’s view

A journalist, Frederick Nwabufo, in his view, said, “No region in Nigeria is self-sufficient; therefore, none is more fortunate in human and material assets than the other. Each region has its unique quality and contributes a consequential substance to Nigeria.” He noted that “it is delusive to assume that any of the regions solely underpins the Nigeria infrastructure.”
“The North feeds the nation and the south contributes in commerce and revenue generation. We are one concentric circle, holding each other at delicate arcs. Nigeria has a unified entity that can stand as an island because its component parts are already flourishing archipelagos.


We should not take this ‘symbiosis’ for granted. Our interdependence makes us a viable concern. The north is Nigeria’s food hamper. The insecurity in the region which has affected farming and the concomitant increase in food prices should make us reflect on the pivotal place of the north beyond politics.
“Every region brings something to the table. All the regions are equal shareholders in asset and liability but I am afraid to say that a menacing spectacle is being enacted by those who do not take the shared interest of Nigeria with seriousness,” he said.


According to him, “What does this portend for Nigeria with the citizens diverting food items needed by fellow citizens to foreign countries? Are foreigners from Niger Republic and Cameroon now substitutes to Nigerians? It is really troubling. What if some groups who have threatened to obstruct oil supply to the north put action to their threat? Where does that leave all of us? We should not cut off our nose to spite our face. Nobody wins in this friction of attrition.”

During the blockade, staple food items such as beef and vegetables, including tomatoes and onions, became scarce in the South, leading to an astronomical rise in the cost of foodstuff. Tomatoes and other products usually supplied from the north became scarce and very expensive in the south during the blockade. Although eventually lifted on March 3, 2021, investigation reveals that governments and opinion leaders in the south are now responding to the development by looking at ways of boosting food production in their areas by not be depending on the north for staple food items for survival.

Ohanaeze’s avowals

Alex Ogbonnia, the spokesman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-political organisation of Igbo, said the group would meet governors of the South-east states over the need to prioritise food production in the zone.
He said, “The food blockade would make the people in the south to sit up because there is hardly any foodstuff that is produced in the north that cannot be produced in the south, including cows, goats, tomatoes and others. This is a reminder to the south that they should begin to look inwards.”


On the preparations for the next planting season in order to avert this kind of situation, he said, “Very soon, it would be rainy season in the South-east and there would be large-scale cultivation of these food items that were usually brought from the north. We in Ohanaeze would liaise with the governors to look at ways of supporting the farmers to improve food production.”

South-west’s initiative

Already, moves towards ensuring improved food production have commenced in the South-west as Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission has commenced an interactive session for government appointees on agriculture in order to stem the tide of another food blockade from the north.
A statement by Seye Oyeleye, the director-general of DAWN Commission at the end of the meeting stated that the South-west states were aware of their responsibilities towards ensuring that people had access to food in abundance and would continue to provide the enabling environment for such to be available in abundance.
He said the South-west states had agreed to work together in order to simplify access to land for investors in agriculture, just as states would invest in dams construction in order to move farming in the region from rain-dependent to water-dependent.


Also, DAWN Commission is to work with other stakeholders to ensure increased production of agricultural products on which the region had comparative advantage, while the state governments agreed to share ideas on how to attract more youths into agriculture. This is also as the South-west states resolved to strengthen the Amotekun Corps to effectively deal with threats posed by armed herdsmen identified as one of the major challenges facing agriculture in the region.

South-south’s plan

Likewise, the South South Governors Forum’s spokesperson, Olisa Ifejika, said the region’s states we already working towards self-sufficiency in food production. He said: “It is a long-term project at the broad level of the South-south, but for now, it is a project that is being taken up at state levels. We are looking at what states can do.” The Delta state government, he noted, is already training youth in agriculture so as to produce enough food for the people.
While adding their voices, leaders of other major socio-political groups like Afenifere, and Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) also insisted that the southern part of the country has the capacity to become self-sufficient in food production.


The Afenifere spokesman, Yinka Odumakin said, “The South is not lazy as they have what it takes to produce all the food they need. But it is also the herdsmen from the North that are making it difficult for farmers in the south to produce enough food.”
Similarly, the PANDEF spokesman, Ken Robinson, said, “We have a lot of agrarian land in southern Nigeria and we can grow our food if we focus on it.”

Northern traders’ position

While all these arguments are going back and forth, northern traders are of the view that their region has better advantages over the South in terms of food production. Awwal Aliyu, the spokesman for the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuffs and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria and leader of the Northern Consensus Movement, stressed that the South would not be able to become self-sufficient in food production because its land would not grow some of the staple food items produced in the North such as grains, beans, maize, rice and millet which are mostly produced in northern Nigeria.


“The land in the south is not as fertile as the land in the north. I wish the south well but there are so many things you cannot plant in the south and even if you plant them they would not do well,” he said.

Middle Belt’s stance

On his part, Pogu Bitrus, the leader of the Middle Belt Forum, however, said the consequence of the whole development is that northern traders would lose market in the south eventually.
“This blockade would serve to improve trade between the Middle Belt region and the southern region. From now on, you will begin to see improved trade between the Middle Belt and the South because people in the Middle Belt who were relying on northern middle men will now begin to trade directly with the South. Whether the North likes it or not that would happen. The blockade has been lifted at the moment, but supposing it has not been lifted there are several other routes through which foodstuff can be taken to the South from the Middle Belt,” he said.

Again, the northern traders said they were not worried about losing markets in the South as they would sell to other West African countries. Reacting to the fears of having perishable foods and losing markets, Aliyu said there was no cause for concern.


“As for us losing market, our people have started exploiting new business opportunities. Because they do not want to lose their perishable products, they have discovered a route that goes through Sokoto to Burkina Faso to Chad, to Niger Republic and other parts of West Africa. As I speak to you, a lot of Lorries are exporting goods to those places so we are losing nothing. So, even if the South-east, South-west and South-south do produce what they can eat, we are not losing market. In fact, it is more profitable for us to export to other countries in West Africa than taking them to southern Nigeria. Our people make more money from other West African countries than taking their goods the South-east, South-west or South-south.

Losses

Meanwhile, Ahmed Alaramma, the general secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria confirmed that perishable food items which could not be sold got spoilt while the blockade lasted.
He said, “Our members that deal in perishable items incurred losses because those products are perishable. Some of their products got spoilt during the blockade. We recorded shortages due to spoilt goods. However, our members who deal in goods like cows and other livestock did not record serious losses because those goods are not perishable. The only shortages they recorded were in terms of daily business activities that could not take place during that period.”
Alaramma said the northern traders agreed to take the losses to protest their grievances over the alleged killings, humiliation, harassment, illegal taxation and extortion suffered by northerners in the South, over which they embarked on the protest.
“It is better that we did not take our goods to the South and have some shortage due to spoilt goods than keep quiet and continue suffering.”

LCCI’s view

The director-general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Musa Yusuf, said the impact of the food blockade would worsen the already high inflation rate in the country.
“The blockade would have some inflationary effects. Food inflation is already above 20 per cent and we are likely to see a much higher rate of inflation because the food supply chain has been severely disrupted. It would take some time for these things to normalise,” he said.

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