Ahead of 2023, Atiku raises alarm over looming food crisis, lists 3 solutions

Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria's former vice president, has raised alarm over a looming acute food crisis in the northern part of the country.

In a statement posted on his verified Facebook page on Friday, July 30, Atiku said the warning given by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Thursday, July 29, of the looming food crisis should not be ignored.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic People (PDP) in the 2019 elections said the FAO's warning "should be seen and heard as a whistleblowing moment" that should attract the federal government's focus.

Saying that northern Nigeria is the nation's food basket, Atiku submitted that any famine in the region will have a national impact on the rest of the country and in the West African sub-region.

Atiku also accused the federal government of adopting a laissez-faire approach to food security, saying such a stance is regrettable.

The former vice president said: "Food security is a vital part of national security, and where this issue is not resolved, the resultant crisis may unsettle the nation and her immediate neighbours. "Now is the time to proffer solutions, so that our countrymen and women do not starve in a land with so much prospective abundance."