A civil society group, Kwara Advancement Initiative (KAI), has raised alarm over the food crisis in the State, which it said has resulted in widespread hunger among the people.
The group points at the latest report of the Consumer Price Index by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which indicates that food inflation in Kwara State has consistently top the national average for three months running and suggests that the food inflation crisis in the State is getting worse.
In a statement issued in Ilorin on Friday signed by the chairman of the group, Ibrahim Suleiman and made available to DAILY GIST, he describes the statistics as “worrisome and troubling.”
“While the national food inflation stands at an average of 15.48 per cent, Kwara’s has been at 15.9, 17.3 and 19.1 respectively for the months of June, July and August,” the group stated.
“The statistics shows a worrisome and troubling trend. We note that the situation is steadily getting worse. The August figures alone show that Kwara State is the second worst State in Nigeria in terms of food inflation, which is clearly reflected in the deteriorating standards of living among the people and the endemic hunger in the State.
How come that even States with serious security challenges like Boko Haram, kidnapping and banditry, States like Zamfara, Borno, Benue and Kaduna are doing better than Kwara State in terms of food security?” the group asked.
The group call on Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazak to wake up to the serious challenge, which they said is making life difficult for majority of the people in the State.
“The State government needs to get its priorities right and align with the most pressing needs of the people. The kind of expenditure that the government has announced of late, like spending almost 400 million naira to renovate one school, does not suggest that the government understands the lived reality for majority of our people.
There is nothing wrong in renovating a school. But with the kind of widespread hunger that we see, and the steady deterioration in the standards of living of our people, government needs to get its priorities right. School renovation can wait, hunger cannot,” the group concludes.
