133m Nigerians battle food poverty- ActionAids

 

The Nigeria ActionAids has lent its voice to 133 million Nigerians being confronted with food poverty.

This position was mentioned at the recently concluded African Heads of State Kampala meeting held in Abuja by the Deputy Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, Suwaiba Muhammad Dankabo when giving a goodwill message as she pointed out that the submit should be harnessed to truly transform food systems for poverty alleviation.

According to Dankabo " The Kampala declaration gives Africa a fresh opportunity to realign its agricultural vision. But to truly transform food systems, we must tackle the intersecting challenges of low productivity- climate shocks and gender inequality "

She observed that " Nigeria’s poverty crisis has steadily worsened over the last decade after surpassing India in 2018. By 2022, that figure had ballooned to 133 million Nigerians living in multidimensional poverty."

The Deputy Country Director stressed that the problem is especially severed in rural areas where over 75% of the population lives in poverty. In urban centers, the rate exceeds 40%, driven by unemployment, inflation, and poor public services.

ActionAid Nigeria Deputy Country Director emphasized that the recent economic reforms had further compounded the crisis with the 2024 removal of petrol subsidies and the floating of the naira.

She admitted that the economic policies were intended to stabilize the economy but not without pains of skyrocketing living costs, declining purchasing power, and deepening hardship for millions of households.

“These structural reforms may serve long-term goals, but without strong safety nets, they’ve pushed vulnerable Nigerians closer to the edge,” said Dankabo.

She stressed the need for urgent investment in women-led agribusinesses, rural extension services, and postharvest infrastructure to unlock the full potential of Nigeria’s agricultural sector and combat hunger at the grassroots level.