A consensus among analysts and many people who have voiced their concern on the spate of looting of warehouses and trucks conveying food and raw materials by suspected hoodlums in some parts of the country is that looting is a crime and hunger cannot be an excuse for anyone to engage in such a criminal act. Yes, the economy is biting harder by the day; arguably, President Bola Tinubu’s government has made some economic decisions that aggravated the harsh economic situation in the country but should that justify the stealing of food items from trucks in traffic as reportedly happened along Kaduna Road in Suleja, Niger State? Should that be a viable reason for the looting and vandalising of the warehouse belonging to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Department of Agriculture in Tasha, Abuja last Sunday morning?
A hungry man is an angry man, late Bob Marley sang, but hunger should not cloud our sense of reasoning not to consider the effect of our actions on ourselves, other people and the nation we call our own.
Reports have it that some of the trucks and warehouses being looted belong to private individuals. How then can we, in a bid to quench our hunger inflict pain on others? Already, the organised private sector has threatened to shut down their businesses and lay off workers should the looting of their wares continue. Who will suffer if that happens – Tinubu, ministers, law makers, governors? Nigerian masses, be reasonable. Nigeria is a nation of laws and it is expected that the fifteen suspects arrested over the Tasha incident will be dealt with in accordance with the law to serve as a deterrent to others. As a matter of fact, stemming the ugly trend of looting depends on how the law enforcement authorities handled this case. We cannot expect the country to grow when lawlessness among people in both high and low places is the order of the day.
The Minister for Works, David Umahi, a few days back, joined his boss, Tinubu and family to appeal for calm and patience in the face of the challenges currently facing the country, insisting that the present hunger affecting the country was caused by the past governments. Much as it steers anger hearing such words from a member of the same political party that has been in power for almost a decade, changing nothing,  rather worsening the woes of the people, patience and hope are what Nigerians need now. Tinubu and his economic team have constantly assured Nigerians that there will be light at the end of the tunnel. Though many people do not believe that, going by the policy somersaults and lack of critical thinking displayed by the current government, there is hope for any glimpse of lightant time soon. But so long as Tinubu remains the president, we must have to wear our patience gabs and support the government as much as we can, to succeed. We must understand that we all have roles to play in making Nigeria better.
In the viral video clip of the looting at Tasha, a man was heard urging the people to loot the items because “na government property, our property”. This is the mentality that propels some citizens to misuse public facilities. We hardly see any reason to protect “government property” established for our use with taxpayers’ money. That certainly is not the way to go but it is surprising how we do not seem to learn from the past.  During Covid-19 lockdown, warehouses were looted because the state governors failed to distribute the Covid-19 palliatives as and when due. Palliative items were donated by well-meaning individuals and groups and for many months these items were not distributed and the people under lockdown were dying of hunger. Some people sniffed out where these items were kept and the unfortunate nation-wide looting and plundering of government and private property followed.
Currently Nigerians are hungry. The purchasing power of the nation’s currency has been hampered by poor economic decisions of those in authority. In January, the inflation figures were reported to had reached 29.90 percent, no thanks to the irrational act of announcing an end to the payment of subsidy, the floating of the Naira, the increasing of the interest rate and other policies that have dealt a heavy blow on the nation’s economy, making life unbearable for many citizens. As a way of cushioning the effects of these economic realities, the president in January promised to release 42,000 metric tonnes of grains to Nigerians. One month later, the Presidency told the citizens that the distribution of the grains had not commenced due to the encumbrances involved in bagging of grains at strategic reserves. This is March, and the distribution is yet to take place? Haba!
One thinks that the government should be more prompt in responding to the needs of the people. The right actions need to be taken at the right time to forestall some of these embarrassing occurrences. It is also important that the authorities address the citizens regularly on the affairs of the nation. Let the people know what the government is doing, efforts being made to address the precarious situation in the country.  The time of keeping the citizens in the dark should be over. Otherwise, they will get information from whatever sources and react in whichever way they deem fit. It is high time we had purposeful, sincere, transparent, accountable, people-oriented leadership at all levels in the country. We cannot continue with the age-long cosmetic approach to the problems of the country, especially poverty alleviation, job creation, education and youth engagement, if we do not want a more devastating rage of the poor in future.
A lot of people have called for a detour of the subsidy removal policy as that is the main reason for the present quagmire in the country. Energy security is something no nation jokes with. The International Energy Agencies (IEA) define energy security as “the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price.” It plays a pivotal role in promoting economic stability, national security, job creation, environmental sustainability, and overall well-being of a nation. Policymakers and industry leaders all over the world often prioritise strategies that address energy security to build a robust and sustainable economic foundation. There is no doubt that all the people that pushed for fuel subsidy removal never knew how devastating the resultant effect could be. Now that everybody’s eyes are open and we are faced with the reality, the best thing to be done by President Tinubu is to reverse the decision and save the nation from crumbling. The nation’s refineries should be made functional. Is it not high time the government kept its promises of bringing the refineries back to life? What about improvement on electricity generation, available and affordable electricity?
For over two months now, many parts of the country, including the Federal Capital Territory, have experienced unstable power supply. All the food many families stored in their deep freezers have gone to waste because of lack of power supply and no money to buy petrol at the exorbitant price of N680,00 and above to fuel their generators. Apparently, there is nothing, no sector of the economy that will function well without adequate power supply at an affordable rate. Recently, a lot has been said on the need for many states to invest in mechanised agriculture as a way of solving the food crisis in the country. That is very laudable, but it still has to do with affordable and constant energy supply. The Governor of  Borno State, Babagana Umara Zulum, recently announced his plan to provide petrol for farmers in the state at subsidised rates to enhance food security among residents. That is a man that understands the importance of affordable energy to the agricultural sector. Other governors should take a cue from him.Need I state that without sincere measures to deal with insecurity across the states to enable farmers to go back to their farms and carry on with their farming activities safely, that the food crisis in the country will not abate? Further delay may be very dangerous

Calista Ezeaku