Addressing Africa’s Food Insecurity Issues: Thus far, barking up the wrong tree.

 By Eze Eluchie, Esq.

 

In a strange and laughable turn of events following the enlargement of military operations by Russia in its so-called ‘special military operations’ against Ukraine to include attacks on the Port city of Odessa which crippled Ukraine’s ability to export its stock pile of grains, a dubious clarion call on the need to ‘preserve global access to Ukraine’s grain stockpiles for the benefit of all humanity, particularly for most of Africa and other aid-dependent territories’, was highlighted and promoted.

 

In furtherance of this ‘clarion call’, a group of African rulers under the auspices of the African Union (AU), headed by the then Chairperson of the AU, Senegalese President, Macky Sall, devoid of any iota of shame, took the unusual step to travel to Russia to meet with Vladimir Putin to plead for cessation of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, so that Ukraine’s precious grains will be able to find its way to various African countries and the warehouses of the donor agencies.

 

It’s instructive to note that at the time the AU delegation made this trip to Russia, the following dire situations which ought to have attracted the attention of the AU were afoot: (a) the war in Democratic Republic of Congo (where this country got the ‘democratic republic’ tag from still remains a mystery) was attaining new heights with the M23 rebel group recording increased military successes against the Congolese army; (b) the Sudanese crisis was tipping over to full scale war; and (c) attacks by Islamist jihadist elements across Africa which was threatening the stability of several countries in the West Africa sub-region. Despite all these continental challenges, the leadership of AU opted to prioritize frolicking all the way to Sochi, Russia, to plead for a cessation of hostilities so that food aid can continue to flow to Africa? Goosh!

 

One doesn’t need to be a genius to appreciate the scorn with which the Russian leadership would have viewed the Sally-led AU delegation - a bunch of stooges who rather than work towards finding domestic solutions to the food insecurity problems besetting Africa, were rather okay with being sent on a frolic to plead for food handouts.

 

Though so much hullabaloo had been made about the type of soil in Ukraine being conducive for cultivation of wheat, one must also appreciate that of the 53 member states of the AU, 20 have land masses larger in size than Ukraine. Agreed some of these 20 countries have huge swaths of arid desert regions, some African countries which have land areas greater than the size of Ukraine, such as South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Mozambique to list a few, and other countries of lesser land mass such as Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia and all the countries along the Atlantic coast of West Africa, are actually blessed with sizable fertile soil which if adequately developed and adapted to crop production, can easily transform some African countries to the food basket of the world.

 

Yet, rather than look inwards to address Africa’s food insecurity crisis and or expend resources trying to address intricate conflict situations which are rife across the African continent, the then AU Chairperson, opted to embark on degrading journey, at the behest of foreign neocolonialists, to plead for a cessation of hostilities in Europe.

 

The folly exhibited by the AU under Macky Sall’s leadership is more of a continuum in the African continent. A clear example of repeat of such density by rulers across Africa, is the present tacit approval by authorities in Nigeria of the strangulation of domestic agricultural activities by Islamist jihadist elements who are allowed free and near-unfettered rein to kill, plunder and destabilize farming communities in the agriculturally rich Middle Belt region of Nigeria, only for same Nigerian government to seek World Bank loans to be able to procure and distribute foods/palliatives to mullions pauperized and rendered destitute by lack of food and basic amenities.

 

Already viewed with ignominy by the rest of civilization, rulers across Africa have to rise up, put on thinking caps and look inwards for solutions to own problems, or risk being consigned to the trash bin by their own populations.

 

 

My sub-3 minute podcast on Africa’s food insecurity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZpoWu5KuQM

 

Picture: Small-scale mixed-crop farm in Nigeria

Nigerian politicians politicize and weaponize Islam to hoodwink the ignorant

 By Eze Eluchie, Esq.

 

It was with astonishment that news that some State Governors in Nigeria, (Bala Mohammed of Bauchi, Nasir Idris of Kebbi, and Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano) had in a most macabre move, opted to shut down schools in their states for the duration of the Muslim period of fasting – the month of Ramadan.

 

One wonders, how did these politicians arrive at this brain wave? Was anything found amiss with the status quo? What was wrong with the previous practice when schools, in some areas, where allowed to close an hour or two earlier than normal? This clearly dense act, which had never been tried in Nigeria, was clearly to elicit opposition from the generality of the public and position the governors in question as being ‘defenders of the Islamic faith’, and precipitate another ‘religious crisis’ in Nigeria.

 

Politicians, bereft of any real governance skills, and with no plans to alleviate their peoples’ sufferings or address their concerns, often resort to stoke primordial embers (ethnic, religious or otherwise) to sustain themselves in office and weave a cocoon of relevance. The politicization and weaponization of Islam to hoodwink the ignorant in their States, has become a regular pastime of some rulers from the Northern fringes of Nigeria, where the contraptions dubious and unreliable population figures presume a majority of people are of the Islamic faith.

 

When it is realized that in core Islamic States such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, etc. the governments don't close schools for Ramadan, but merely shorten the length of the school day, it becomes necessary to inquire into the motive of the political rulers who use Islam as a cover to exploit the population over whom they are supposed to govern. Why are these Nigerian pretenders being more Islamic than the owners of the faith, the Custodian of the Two Holy Temples?

 

What efforts are these religious pretenders in Nigeria making to ensure that the Islamic (Shari'a) penalties for corruption (a pastime of theirs) is implemented? No this wouldn't concern them as they would all have lost limbs in the process. These rulers would rather distort, destroy and rubbish the future of the children of the peoples of their states, ensuring the population is consigned to endemic ignorance, whilst their own children are shipped abroad to the choicest schools in Europe, the Americans and Arabia.

 

The inability of the Nigerian contraption to frontally address the bastardization of religion for political goals is the bane of the country and has ensured that Nigeria is consigned to the backwoods of civilization.

 

Efforts by some unscrupulous politicians to distort the enshrined secular status of Federal Republic of Nigeria will yet lead the territory to unsavory ends. The need for a holistic renegotiation and restructuring of Nigeria gets clearer to all.

 

Shame on religious charlatans

 

Picture: Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, one of those who have decreed the closure of schools during Ramadan