The Shippers Association of Lagos State (SALS) has raised a red flag over an outbreak of food shortage in the country just as it condemn what it described as a criminal silence of government over the Central Bank of Nigeria warning of an endangered economy.
The President of the association, Rev. Jonathan Nicol, who make the observation in Lagos predicted that there might be acute food shortage in 2019, citing the natural disaster of increased rainfall with the attendant menace of flooding that has destroyed many homes and farmlands as well as the insurgency in the North East and the massive killings in the North Central.
“Before now, we were looking at 2019 as a year of harvest but with what is going on, especially the flood issue coupled with the violence in the north, 2019 will likely be a very tough year for the country, especially in terms of food,” he stated.
Nicol also lambasted the government over its silence on the warning signal by the CBN that the economy may slip back into recession.
‘We are even more worried by this deafening silence of the government because they are making large sums of money. The war in the north is progressing and the government cannot arrest behind it.
It could be recalled that the Governor of the apex bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who briefed newsmen shortly after the two-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee MPC members last week, had warned that the nation’s economy, which exited recession last year, has started showing signs of weakness, citing growth rate of 1.95 per cent and 1.5 per cent during the first and the second quarters of this year, respectively.