A former director of the Department of States Services (DSS), Mike Ejiofor, has said the flagrant display of wealth by politicians amidst food insecurity and hunger is a major concern.
Ejiofor said this during an interview with ARISE NEWS yesterday while discussing the current level of food insecurity in Nigeria, further warned that if the politicians “don’t take time, they will be consumed by their careless and reckless acts.”
He continued, “The greatest challenge we have in this country, the majority are created by politicians,” he asserted.
“Whether the government intervention is yielding results or not is not the crux of the issue. We’re talking of food insecurity, and the greater problem coming up is the insecurity created by the politicians.”
Emphasising the stark contrast between the living conditions of the people and the lifestyles of the politicians, he said, “You can see there is hunger, and yet politicians flagrantly display affluence and wealth in the face of these people as if they don’t care. I feel the politicians should, as a matter of urgency, address the issue, assisting the government to bring this insecurity to a tolerable level.”
Ejiofor highlighted the complex interplay between insecurity and food scarcity in Nigeria. “It’s a well-known fact that insecurity is a major cause of food insecurity in Nigeria,” he said. “Farmers are not able to access their farms due to herders, and some cattle destroy all they have. The issue of bandits ravaging the various forests and farms adds to this challenge. A few people go to the farm because of fear.”
Further speaking, he pointed out another factor responsible for the price hike and scarcity in food. “Apart from the challenge of insecurities to accessing farms, you have the issue of transportation which makes prices of good exorbitant and unaffordable to the people,” he noted.
He added, “There is also urban migration, so the number of people who engage in farming is less. I believe that the government should take drastic measures to check the incessant food insecurity in Nigeria because a hungry man is an angry man. There is a lot of hunger and anger in the land.”
He suggested ways to tackle the country’s security challenges, saying, “We should adopt a different approach since the approaches we are using are not yielding results.
“I have advocated severally that we need to restructure our security architecture. We need to have an all-society concept of approach to each challenge. I mean that people should be involved as long as we continue to leave it to the security agencies alone. We will continue to face the problems.”
While advocating for everyone to be involved in the security measures, Ejiofor advised the government to pay more attention to security forces as well as adequately fund them.
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