Hunger and starvation are weapons of mass destruction. They are deadlier than the deadliest conventional war weapons. Starving civilians is an ancient military tactic, and it is also the oldest weapon of war. The Romans deployed hunger and starvation to defeat and destroy Carthage in 146 Century Before Christ (BC).
Adolf Hitler used hunger and starvation encapsulated in the unpopular “hungerplan” to starve 4.2 million Soviet citizens to death during the World War 2.
The latest widely known deployment of hunger and starvation may be during the Nigeria Civil War. But since 1977, the world had prohibited and criminalized the use hunger and starvation against any people at a Geneva Convention of that year.
Hence under normal conditions, food security has remained a priority policy of every serious nation in world today.
Nigeria is not in a war situation, yet hunger and starvation are ravaging the entire nation. It is estimated that over 21 million Nigerians would live in acute hunger in 2024. What a sorry situation!
Since the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu removed fuel subsidy and floated the naira, devaluation has hit naira like never before. Dollar exchange to naira has skyrocketed, causing the prices of everything in Nigeria to rise above 600 percent.
Citizens are sore worried. Many families can no longer afford the soaring prices of foodstuffs.
Protests have erupted in many parts of the country, angry citizens are calling on the government to change its economic policies that are impoverishing the nation.
How will the government of President Tinubu handle and manage the ugly situation to avoid its escalation because it is said that “a hungry man is an angry man?
The biting hunger in the land is what our cover story captures in this edition. Enjoy it.
