The Managing Director of Spectra Industries limited, an indigenous Food Processing and Manufacturing company, Mr. Duro Kuteyi, who gave the warning during an event to mark the World Food Day in Lagos, therefore called on the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency save Nigeria from imminent food crisis by setting up a workable agenda for food security to address banditry and flooding, that have made it difficult for farmers to access their farms.

Kuteyi, who particularly lamented the general insecurity in the country, said while the rest of the world is fighting hard to combat factors such as climate change that have assumed a big threat to food security, the uncontrollable level of terrorism and banditry has made it difficult for farmers to operate.

He warned that the current rate of inflation and escalation in food prices will be child’s play by next year if urgent measures are not taken to ensure that farmers are allowed to farm without the fear of being kidnapped or the current practice where bandits force farmers to pay royalty and taxes on their farms is not stopped.

Kuteyi said: “It is either the Federal Government does not know the full import of what is happening in Nigeria today, or they lack the political will to confront banditry and terrorism to make the environment safe for farmers. What we have on ground today is already having huge negative impact on manufacturers who can no longer have enough local raw materials that used to come from local farmers.”

“The first three months in the life of the administration that will emerge in 2023 will determine whether Nigeria will be saved from food crisis or not. Once there is a commitment from the new government on tackling banditry and terrorism, otherwise, Nigerians should brace up for tougher time next year,” Mr. Kuteyi submitted.

In his key note address, the chairman of the Lagos Chapter of the Food Safety Committee, Mr. Abiru Abayomi who spoke on the Theme of World Food Day – “Leave No One Behind,” said the desire of the world is that no one must be left hungry, stressing that leaving anyone hungry poses a security threat to the world.

He, however, lamented that the global concern of ensuring that every human being is well fed to guarantee security seems not to mean anything to the various level of government, as nothing concrete is being done to address food wastage, as well as other factors such as insecurity, flooding and climate change, posing a great threat to food security.

“Even in some African countries like Egypt, the government has a lot of intervention programmes to encourage farming, such as the provision of high-yielding seedlings, as well as enabling environment that makes farming flourish,” Abiru said.

He therefore, called on all levels of government, to save farming and the manufacturing sector by setting aside intervention funds that will truly be channeled into agriculture to feed the manufacturing sector with raw materials.