The Labour Party has said cases of stampedes recorded across the country during Christmas palliative distributions showed Nigerians face severe hunger.
The National Secretary of the Julius Abure-led Labour Party, Alhaji Umar Farouk, said the party was petrified over the stampede to death of about 65 Nigerians in the last few days in Oyo, Anambra states and the FCT.
In a statement on Monday, Farouk noted that the stampedes have become one too many and that the loss of this magnitude of lives at a time when Nigeria was not facing any natural epidemic was a pointer to the fact that hunger could be the worst epidemic a people can face.
“As reported, about 40 children, died during a stampede at a carnival in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, a few days ago. Also, 20 residents of Okija community in Anambra State lost their lives in a similar stampede. On the same day, more than 10 people died following a stampede in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
“All these unfortunate incidents occurred in similar circumstances. While one happened when one of the Catholic churches in the FCT was distributing food items to vulnerable persons, the Okija, Anambra state incident happened during a palliative distribution by a notable philanthropist. So also, the Ibadan, Oyo state was an event funded by a popular royalty. The bottom line is that there is hunger in the land.
“It is only poverty that made some Nigeria to go scooping fuel from accident scenes resulting to inferno which brought about hundreds of casualties. These happened on several occasions in the last one year,” he said.
He stressed that President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies were responsible for the economic hardships Nigerians go through daily.
Labour Party called on the government to redirect its policies towards alleviating the hardship imposed on the citizens.
“One major reason why people resolve to crime is due to hunger. Nigerians in their millions have been subjected to hunger arising from other reasons such as rising inflation and poor economic management. The economic reforms of the Tinubu administration have caused untold hardship to Nigerians. Hunger is turning into an epidemic and not many people can survive this situation.
“We are therefore calling on the government to scale down most of its agenda in 2025 and redirect it’s policies towards food production. Over 70 percent of Nigeria land resources are laying waste. Aquatic economy is prostrate and the ministries in charge of these sectors should be made to function,” he stated.
He continued, “The protection of lives and property are the cardinal purpose of the government. But as we can see, life of Nigerians no longer matter that much. While a large number of Nigerians have been wasted by the butcher knife of the kidnappers, many simply get killed while trying to survive at all cost. Nothing tangible is been done by the government to ameliorate the hunger crisis and check poverty level in Nigeria. The government must simply sit up and put their acts together. The statistics is not good, and enough of taking the people for granted.”