Former presidential aide, Dr. Doyin Okupe has described the slowing down of farming activities due to insecurity as an existential threat to Nigerians.
Okupe, who recently signified interest in vying for the presidency in 2023, stated this in a Facebook post on Wednesday while lamenting rising food prices.
He lamented buying four pieces of averagely-sized unripe plantains for N1,000 on Tuesday, noting that the price was double what he paid for them in December 2020.
Okupe’s comment came as data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that food inflation has continued a steady rise in the country.
The bureau’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April showed that “the composite food index rose by 22.72 per cent in April 2021 compared to 22.95 per cent in March 2021”.
NBS blamed the sustained rise in food prices on soaring beverages prices, noting that “this rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of coffee, tea and cocoa, bread and cereals, soft drinks, milk, cheese and eggs, vegetable, meat, oils and fats, fish and potatoes, yam and other tubers”.
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According to Okupe, the longer it takes to curb the pervasive Insecurity in the country the more the effects of ravaging poverty, scarcity, and astronomical high costs of foodstuffs in the nation.
He wrote, “Yesterday I bought 4 pieces of averagely sized unripe plantain for N1000!!! That is, N250 for one!! Some 2 weeks ago, 4 or 5 pieces were still sold for N1000 in the same market while in December (6months ago) a bunch of 8 or 10 sold for N1000.
“This is the general trend in food prices recently. Just before Ramadan a regular basket of tomatoes sold for N26,000. It dropped slightly to N23,000 yesterday. The same basket sold for N6000 in January.
“The slowing down of farming activities across the Nation due to insecurity in the country is a major existential threat to survival of citizens in general.
“The longer it takes to curb the pervasive Insecurity in the country the more the effects of ravaging poverty, scarcity and astronomical high costs of foodstuffs in the Nation.”