More than 821 million people suffered from hunger worldwide last year, the United Nations reported Monday — the third year in a row that the number has risen.
Robin Willoughby, the head of food and climate policy at Oxfam GB, said women were hit hardest by the rise in hunger.
“A toxic brew of climate shocks, inequality and conflict is unravelling years of progress,” he said.
“If we are to meet the target of ending hunger by 2030, governments must urgently cut greenhouse emissions, provide more support for small-scale agriculture and increase efforts to end violent conflicts
After decades of decline, malnutrition began to increase in 2015, mainly because of climate change and war. Reversing the trend is one of the 2030 targets of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals which aim to improve the planet and its people.
But getting to a world where no one is suffering from hunger by then remains an “immense challenge,” the report said, noting the number of people without enough to eat had risen from 811 million in 2017.
“We will not achieve zero hunger by 2030,” said David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme, one of the UN agencies contributing to the report.
“That’s a bad trend. Without food security we will never have peace and stability,” said Beasley, deploring that the media carry more talk about Brexit and Donald Trump than children dying of hunger.
He warned that extremist groups were using hunger and control over food supplies as a weapon to divide communities or recruit new members.
“The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” report was produced by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other United Nations agencies including the World Health Organization.
“To safeguard food security and nutrition, it is critical to already have in place economic and social policies to counteract the effects of adverse economic cycles when they arrive, while avoiding cuts in essential services, such as healthcare and education, at all costs,” it said.
A “structural transformation” was needed to include the poorest people in the world, the authors said.
This would require “integrating food security and nutrition concerns into poverty reduction efforts” while tackling gender inequality and the exclusion of certain social groups, they said.
Malnutrition remains widespread in Africa, where around 20 percent of the population is affected, and in Asia where more than 12 percent of people experience it. In Latin America and the Caribbean, fewer than seven percent of people are affected.
Adding those hit by food insecurity gives a total of more than two billion people, eight percent of whom are in North America and Europe, who don’t regularly have access to enough nutritious, safe food, the report said.
The FAO said current efforts were insufficient to meet the goal of halving the number of children whose growth is stunted by malnutrition by 2030.
Tag: Hunger
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Over 821 million people hungry worldwide – UN
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Boko Haram: IDPs protest over hunger, neglect in Maiduguri
…as NEMA insists protest not because of hunger
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Tuesday dismissed as misleading reports alleging that some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) staged a demonstration to protest lack of food at the Teachers’ Village IDPs camp in Maiduguri.
In a statement, Mr Sani Datti, the Head of Media and Public Relations of the agency, said that the protest was not triggered by lack of food and starvation in the camp, but rather due to the suspension of registration of the displaced persons by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Datti said: “for record and purpose of clarity, though there was protest by some IDPs living in Teachers Village Camp, Maiduguri, it was never caused by hunger or lack of food supplies.
“The protest was actually caused by interruption of profiling exercise of the IDPs by International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), who were at the camp to extend their humanitarian support to complement the effort of partners.
“Consequently, some people outside made attempt to be enumerated and this prompted some IDPs in the camp to chase them away and it resulted in commotion and riot.
“However, the situation has been immediately brought under control by the security operatives stationed at the camp and normalcy restored,” Datti said.
Datti said that the agency had continued to provide food items monthly to the IDPs in camps, host communities and liberated areas in Borno and Adamawa States.
According to him, the agency had conducted the monthly food distribution exercise at the camp on January 15, 2019, for the households, adding that the food ration was expected to sustain the households for one month.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some aggrieved IDPs staged a demonstration on Tuesday in Maiduguri, to protest alleged lack of food and shelter at the camp.
Hundreds of the displaced persons took to the streets, blocked the Maiduguri-Kano Road, and destroyed bill boards and campaign posters of political parties candidates mounted by the road.
It took the intervention of the police, military and other security operatives to disperse the protesting IDPs.
The protesters were taking refuge at the camp since January, sequel to the displacement of households from their homes due to Boko Haram insurgents’ attack in Baga and adjourning communities in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno.
A cross section of the protesting IDPs said that they were demonstrating over lack of food and shelter in the camp since their arrival about 40 days ago.
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie honoured for fight against hunger
Action Against Hunger, an international Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has honoured foremost Nigerian novelist and international acclaimed fiction writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, for her contributions towards eliminating hunger and malnutrition.
Adichie was presented with the award at the organization’s 19th annual gala, which took place in New York City on Tuesday, October 30, 2018.
Explaining why Chimamanda was selected as the 2018 recipient, the international NGO said she is part of a large community of people who leverage their visibility and voices on behalf of others in the fight against hunger.
“Chimamanda Adichie was selected to accept the 2018 Action Against Hunger Humanitarian Award because we are inspired by her unwavering support of women and refugees. As a transformational storyteller who brings diversity, complexity, and humanity to all her professional projects, ranging from best-selling books to TED talks, her work aligns perfectly with Action Against Hunger’s mission and vision,” the NGO said.
“We are honored that Ms. Adichie has accepted our annual Humanitarian Award.
Commenting on the award and on the work of Action Against Hunger, Ms. Adichie said: “There is so much about the world today that makes me feel close to despair. But we cannot afford despair. It is important to remember that there is also much generosity and kindness in the world. And the work of Action Against Hunger is proof of that. We as individuals may not be able to change the whole world but we can change a small slice of it for the better.”
Past recipients of the Action Against Hunger Award include the late President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Oprah Winfrey.
The humanitarian award caps off a growing list of accolades the renowned author has received in the last three months.
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FG determined to wipe out hunger, poverty before 2030 – Ogbeh
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh has assured Nigerians of the Federal Government’s determination to wipe out hunger, food insecurity and poverty before the end of 2030.
Ogbeh, who gave the assurance after a sensitization walk ahead of the event, yesterday in Abuja, praised the resilience of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for investing in Nigeria for the past 40 years.
Represented by the Director, Policies, planning and Cordination, Nasiru Adamu, he said, “this year’s World Food Day also marks the 70th of the establishment of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). And 40 years presence in Nigeria. 40 years in the life of a nation is a great achievement. The theme, “Our Actions are our Future: A Zero Hunger World by 2030 is possible,” is possible.
“It is a well cut out theme at this period when impact of climate change is very much devastating on food production and food security. The theme can be actualised if government, private sector and development partners work in collaboration to fight hunger, extreme poverty and malnutrition.
“The principle of this administration is to treat agriculture as business. Before now a lot of people look down on agriculture,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the Country Representative of FAO, Suffyan Koroma, however, pledged the organisation’s commitment to asisting Nigeria fight hunger and extreme poverty but also tasked farmer to be knowledgeable on the type of crop to produce and for the appropriate market
According to Koroma, “Nigeria should be free from hunger by 2030.
“But that does not just rest on agriculture as we know it. It goes beyond that because if you look at the complementary services that agriculture needs to strive, they are also valuable as the product that we produce from the farm.
And for food prices to be low it does not just mean production; it means the value added product, services that we provide and how efficient they are. Even effective legislation can lead to zero hunger and knowledge as to what to produce and to what market,” he advised. -
World Food Programme Applauds UN Security Council For Tackling Link Between Conflict And Hunger
The Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) today hailed the UN Security Council for its leadership in adopting a resolution that for the first time paves the way to address conflict-induced hunger around the world.
“Today’s Security Council vote is a huge step forward toward breaking the cycle of conflict and hunger that stands in the way of prosperity and peace for hundreds of millions of people,” says David Beasley. “The Security Council recognizes that food security is an essential factor in bringing about peace and security, and we look forward to future opportunities within the Security Council to address food insecurity’s role both as a result and driver of conflicts worldwide.”
Around the world, 60 percent of the 815 million chronically hungry people live in a conflict zone; that’s 489 million people suffering man-made, preventable hunger. Children pay an especially horrible price – an estimated 122 million of the 155 million stunted children in the world live in countries affected by conflict.
Over the past two years, the number of people with acute food insecurity has risen 55 percent, from 80 million to 124 million, according to the latest Global Food Crises Report, released in March. Conflict and insecurity were the primary drivers of hunger for 74 million of those with acute food insecurity – which is when hunger is so severe it poses an immediate threat to lives or livelihoods.
“In every conflict zone I have visited, the people I talk to ask for peace as often as they ask for help getting food,” Beasley says. “For decades, we’ve made progress against hunger, but now we’re going backwards, and it’s nearly all because people won’t stop shooting at each other. We need global leaders to build on today’s Security Council actions to work with us to help end hunger and create peace, stability and lasting development in the regions where so many people are suffering.”
The resolution, officially #2018-492, emphasizes “deep concern that ongoing armed conflicts and violence have devastating humanitarian consequences, often hindering an effective humanitarian response, and are therefore a major cause of the current risk of famine.”
The resolution appeals to all parties to armed conflict to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, including taking care to spare materials needed for producing and distributing food, such as farms, markets, mills and water systems. It strongly condemns starving civilians as a method of warfare, which is prohibited by international humanitarian law and which “may constitute a war crime.”
The resolution asks the Secretary-General to continue providing information on the risk of famine and food insecurity in countries with armed conflict as part of his regular comprehensive reporting on country-specific situations.
Championed by a core group consisting of Côte d’Ivoire, Kuwait, the Netherlands and Sweden, the resolution was supported unanimously by the SC’s 15 members. Beasley especially thanked the governments of the Netherlands and Switzerland, which led a high-profile UN discussion series on this issue over the past year.
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Only lazy Nigerians claim hunger under Buhari’s regime – Hameed Ali
The Comptroller-General of Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd) on Tuesday said that lazy Nigerians can be hungry under President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime.
According to him, the President had done so much for agriculture that farmers are now rich.
The government, he said, has provided the enabling environment for all.
Ali made the remark when he led the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO) on a visit to President Buhari at the Presidential Villa.
He said: “Mr. President, our economy has grown all because of the discipline you have instilled in the financial sector. All those nonchalant attitudes, all those days of siphoning money are no longer feasible.
“Mr. President today, I have to ration the rice, that is fiscal discipline.
“Mr. President, today we are seeing physically where people are rejecting foreign rice for local rice. Today Mr. President if you go to some of our houses, what you will see is local rice and that is wealth for our people.
“Last year, during the Hajj period when I went home, many farmers came to me that they have never had it so good, so much so that the first 25 people that paid up their money when Hajj fares were announced, were rice farmers. What more can we say in terms of growth of wealth?
“People say we are hungry, of course the lazy must be hungry because if you do not work hard, manna doesn’t fall from heaven. So, when people say we are hungry, there was never a time in Nigeria that food is dropped in the mouth of the people and there will never be.
“I can go on and on and enumerate what you have done in just three years of your administration but three is not enough to undo what was done in 16 years. The destruction, the monumental stealing that we have witnessed, the destruction of our structures and our system, it takes more than eight years to be able to address them and I believe in three years you have done wonderfully well.” he said
Ali added: “People may ask why are you so passionate about change. Why were you so committed in 2014 and why are you so committed in 2018, this is because you are a man of integrity, of honesty and above all, Mr. President you love this great nation.
“I have said it and I will repeat it here, Mr. President, with all due respect, at 70 plus, with a good retirement benefits and with your house in Daura, if I were you, I will see no reason to be in this arena. But why are you here? It is because you love this great country. You left your comfort zone to serve Nigeria and that is why for those of us who love you for who you are said we must follow you and ensure that your second term in this country becomes a reality.
Three years into Buhari’s administration, he said, tremendous achievements have been made.
Ali said: “We have laid the foundation, we have started building roads but, Mr. President, we must complete the building.
“What do we need to do? We must as your loyalists and people who believe in this country, tell you that we are with you shoulder to shoulder and ensure that you are elected. And then the building will be completed so that never again will there be cause to destroy Nigeria.”
He noted that the President has been his mentor in service and out of service.
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How hunger inspired ‘Legbegbe’ -Mr Real
Wherever trending song ‘Legbegbe’ is being played, the atmosphere becomes animated and people take to the dance floor to show off their different versions of the ‘Shaku shaku’ dance.
Legbegbe’ is undoubtedly one of the most played songs in Nigerian radio stations, night clubs and parties. Unknown to many, the song was inspired in a weird way.
Uchenna Okafor a.k.a Mr Real , who is one of the progenitors of the trending dance has revealed how the song was inspired. He said he was battling with the pangs of hunger when the inspiration hit him.
According to him: ”The journey has not been easy, my first track was produced by Terry G and the video was shot by Akin Alabi, the title of the song was Kakaraka. The truth is that I believed in myself, I never thought for one day that ‘this thing don too tey, make I find another thing do.I didn’t sit down to write Legbegbe, I had gone to buy food down my street, I had my ear phones on and was listening to that beat (a looped beat). The next thing that kept coming to my head was, ‘Oya e fun won legbegbe’.
“So while I was vibing to that song, there was this guy who also came to buy food, so I collected his phone, and I did the recording on his phone and sent it to my phone via WhatsApp. So that fateful day, I went to the studio and i recorded the song, ‘Legbegbe’, he told Pulse TV.
Genevieve Nnaji breaks internet with ‘Shaku Shaku’ dance moves
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Poverty, hunger are reasons behind several agitations in Nigeria – Peter Obi
A former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, has identified poverty and hunger as main causes of agitations by ethnic groups in Nigeria.
Obi said this in Calabar during the 7th lecture organised by the Bridge Leadership Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded by a former governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke.
The foundation was established in 2011 by Imoke to inculcate entrepreneurial skills in young citizens.
The theme for the 2017 edition was ‘Made in Nigeria: Local production, global market.’
Obi, who spoke on the topic, ‘Leadership and Integrity,’ said that some of the agitations across the country had gone beyond control because Nigeria lacked visionary leaders.
He cited Boko Haram in the North-East, militancy in the Niger-Delta, the Independent People of Biafra in the South-East and farmers/herdsmen clash as some of the challenges facing the country today.
Obi said, “Nigeria has the resources and potentials of becoming the greatest country in the world; but, the country lacks visionary leaders.
“Today, we have different forms of agitations in Nigeria because the people are poor and hungry. The leaders have lost touch with the led.”
He commended Imoke for sustaining the foundation for seven years, adding that capacity building for youths was one of the ways of curbing youth unemployment in the country.
Earlier, Imoke said the objective of the foundation was to groom and encourage youths to take leadership role and have the basic knowledge of becoming entrepreneurs.
“The foundation provides a valuable platform for young people to be inspired by the success stories of youths in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, who are scaling the huddles and challenges of growing up.” he said.
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Poverty, hunger responsible for Boko Haram, Niger Delta agitation – Osinbajo
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has attributed the agitation and social tension in the country primarily to hunger and poverty.
Osinbajo said this while declaring open the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers (NALT) conference at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UniZik), Awka, on Monday.
He said that political leaders across the country had failed to distribute equitably the resources accruing to their areas from the centre for the good of the people.
“Most of the security problems of the nation are self-inflicted through corrupt practices.
“The Boko Haram in the North-East, militants in the Niger Delta, herdsmen and farmers clashes are as a result of poverty.
“A lot of this agitations are centred around the failure of the state to create an inclusive society.
“Constant agitation for national resources is a product of individual deprivation and this was taken up by ethnic nationalities as group agitation.
“Political elites who failed the people by embezzling their funds, are at the forefront of these agitations because they make it look as if the problem is because of ethnic nationality,” he said.
Osinbajo, who said he had been a teacher of law since 1981, charged the law teachers to brainstorm on the principles of the law and proffer ways to make it strong.
He said they should find solutions to the problem of protracted litigation involving corruption cases.
Osinbajo said that the delay in concluding such cases was the handiwork of Nigerian lawyers, adding that the tactics was robbing the legal profession some measure of credibility.
“I found no reason why it is easier to prove the case of a man who stole small amount of money than the case of a civil servant who earns, say, N200,000 a month in whose account is found billions of Naira.
“Why does it take so long to convict a man in whose account as a civil servant, is found billions of Naira? We must re-define the offence of corruption because it is worse than homicide.”
The Acting President described the conference theme `Law, Security and National Development’ as apt, saying that it reflects the challenges of the country at the moment.
“You should pay more attention to what goes on in the judiciary and engage the government because that is why they are thinkers,” he said.
In his remark, Chief Justice of the Federation, Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghen, said that laws had a big role to play in achieving the highest level of security for individuals in any society.
Onnoghen, who was the Chairman of the occasion, was represented by Hon. Justice Amina Augie, a Justice of the Supreme Court.
He said it was necessary for the existing laws to be efficient with the right attitude to their implementation.
Earlier, Prof Joseph Ahaneku, UniZik Vice Chancellor, said that NALT should maintain the unity that had bound the members for over 50 years.
NAN
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Nigerians are hungry, poverty is evident everywhere – Dogara
…inaugurates technical team to end recession
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara has said the current economic crisis experienced in the country is becoming unbearable for some Nigerians as they find it difficult to feed and carry out their basic day-to-day responsibilities.
However, as part of plans to make life better for ordinary Nigerians, the Speaker on Tuesday inaugurated a technical committee on Economic Recession.
The committee, comprising of 16 erudite professionals with vast experience in economics and sundry issues, is to monitor the various steps and policies of the Government aimed at taking Nigeria out of recession.
While delivering a speech during the inauguration at the National Assembly, Dogara said the technical committee of the House will craft “enduring legislative tools to be deployed in helping policy makers and implementors adhere to timelines in their drive to exit recession and return Nigeria to sustainable economic growth and prosperity.”
He expressed dismay that, “some of our people can no longer afford to feed. Some school children are dropping out of school due to inability of parents to pay school fees. Transportation, power, healthcare are difficult for the ordinary citizens. There is general anguish on the faces of Nigerians due to poverty and hunger.
“We cannot, however, continue to lament. The problems are well known. At this point in time, it is the solutions that matters more and that is what should engage our attention. As a parliament, we are committed to ensuring that the sufferings experienced by ordinary Nigerians are alleviated.
“These challenges may appear too difficult to surmount but the good news is that they are surmountable. Other nations have surmounted greater economic challenges in the past and Nigeria’s case cannot be different.”
The Speaker noted that what Nigeria needed at this point in time was solutions to the problems of the economy and added that, “as a parliament, we are committed to ensuring that the sufferings experienced by ordinary Nigerians are alleviated.
“These challenges may appear too difficult to surmount but the good news is that they are surmountable. Other nations have surmounted greater economic challenges in the past and Nigeria’s case cannot be different.
“We in the National Assembly have aligned with the executive arm of government to turn around the economy by focusing on priorities that will make maximum impact on economic recovery and respectable growth.
“As partners in progress, the National Assembly had in 2016 offered wide ranging legislative and other economic ideas and solutions to the Executive in a concurrent Resolution of both Chambers. Senate Resolution (S/Res./018/02/16) and House Resolution (HR.107/2016) refers.”
He recalled that the decision to partner with the executive to tackle the recession was in line with keeping with his promise during the inauguration of this 8th Assembly on the 9th of June, 2015, when he said, “we as a parliament can only justify the confidence of our people by keeping faith with our duties of Law making, Representation and Oversight of the Executive arm of government.
“However, in spite of our responsibility for checking and balancing the Executive, good governance can only be effected when all arms of government are working in harmony and partnership to bring about the CHANGES voted for by Nigerians on March 28, 2015”.
“In a similar vein, we affirmed that the centre point of our legislative agenda will be to collaborate with the various arms of government and the Senate to legislate for the common good of the Nigerian citizens with emphasis on reforms that will promote rapid national economic growth and development, tackle poverty, unemployment…. Indeed our major legislative initiative was to support diversification of Nigeria’s economy to foster its development from mono product economy to an economy with a diversified base.
“To this end, we introduced Sectoral Debate on various aspects of the economy as a legislative initiative to address the national economic problems”, he added.