(Published on The Southerner)
Thursday, July 3, 2025

The ongoing bloodletting by armed bandits and herdsers in Nigeria’s Middle-Belt region, is forcing many farmers to flee their farms, sparking a significant reduction in agricultural output.

Areas like Zaki Biam, Kwande, Logo, and others, major agricultural hubs, have experienced severe disruptions, resulting in lower yields of staple crops like yam, rice, and cassava.

Disturbingly, killings in Benue State involving farmers and herders have significantly impacted the country’s food security, disrupting agricultural production.

Benue is known as the “food basket of Nigeria”, and is a major contributor to Nigeria’s food supply. The violence is forcing farmers to abandon their land, reducing crop yields and availability.

This disruption has led to higher food prices, increased hunger, and a greater risk of malnutrition across the country.

Already, the reduced supply of food from Benue is contributing to food scarcity across the country, and driving up prices, making food less accessible to the many hungry citizens.

The worrisome combination of reduced food availability and high prices have exacerbated hunger and malnutrition among the vulnerable segment of the populace. And, like the menace of the Boko Haram insurgency, the violence in the Middle-Belt have also led to displacement, forcing citizens to abandon their livelihoods, creating further economic hardship, impacting overall food security.

As a major food-producing state, the violence in Benue has direct and significant consequences for the country’s food security, potentially impacting every region.

A global rights group, Amnesty International has documented the alarming escalation of attacks across Benue where gunmen have been on a killing spree with utter impunity.

While the attacks have caused massive displacement and affected food security, President Bola Tinubu’s weak response has been merely issuing a directive to the security chiefs, instructing them to implement his earlier orders to restore peace and order in violence-stricken areas, with particular emphasis on Benue.

While the implications of the foregoing tend to mean that Tinubu’s “earlier orders” may have been ignored, the Nigerian leader equally tasked the Benue governor, Fr. Hyacinth Alia, with the urgent responsibility of convening reconciliation meetings among the conflicting groups within the state.

Bayo Onanuga. special adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, made this public, pointing out that his principal
called on Governor Alia to urgently initiate dialogue between warring parties, including farmers, herders, and local communities. “The purpose of this is to end the cycle of violence and foster peaceful coexistence”, he said.

As I see it, the conflict is far beyond the governors of the blood-flowing Middle-Belt region. The crisis requires a decisive intervention of Abuja, that is, if its serious about contending the scourge that will eventually spill over to Eastern, Western Nigeria, and of course, the oil and gas habitat.

The killers and their sponsors are merely hiding under the resource pressure ignited by climate change, to pursue a sinister ethno-religious agenda. The Tinubu administration can only fail to destroy the rampaging monster if it’s complicit to the crime against humanity because of its religious bent.

So, for President Tinubu to only describe the killings as “inhuman and anti-progress” is not enough without an action plan by his administration to annihilate the roots of this national security risk.

For instance, while Tinubu is busy warning against any provocative actions by leaders that could escalate the violence, United Nations agencies are ringing the alarm that Nigeria is currently one of the hotspot countries of “very high concern” requiring urgent attention to save lives and livelihoods”.

A new joint UN report on Monday, June 16, 2025 warned that people in five hunger hotspots around the world are facing extreme hunger and risk of starvation and death in the coming months unless there is urgent humanitarian action and a coordinated international effort to de-escalate conflict, stem displacement, and mount an urgent full-scale aid response.

The latest Hunger Hotspots report shows that Sudan, Palestine, South Sudan, Haiti and Mali are hotspots of highest concern, with communities already facing famine, at risk of famine or confronted with catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity due to intensifying or persisting conflict, economic shocks, and natural hazards. The devastating crises are being exacerbated by growing access constraints and critical funding shortfalls.

The semi-annual Hunger Hotspots report is an early-warning and predictive analysis of deteriorating food crises for the next five months. Developed and published with financial support from the European Union through the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC), the latest edition projects a serious deterioration of acute food insecurity in 13 countries and territories – the world’s most critical hunger hotspots in the coming months.

In addition to hotspots of highest concern, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar and Nigeria are now hotspots of very high concern and require urgent attention to save lives and livelihoods. Other hotspots include Burkina Faso, Chad, Somalia, and Syria.

“This report makes it very clear: hunger today is not a distant threat – it is a daily emergency for millions”, says Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General QU Dongyu. “We must act now, and act together, to save lives and safeguard livelihoods. Protecting people’s farms and animals to ensure they can keep producing food where they are, even in the toughest and harshest conditions, is not just urgent – it is essential.”

For Cindy McCain, the World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, “this report is a red alert. We know where hunger is rising and we know who is at risk”, adding, “we have the tools and experience to respond, but without funding and access, we cannot save lives. Urgent, sustained investment in food assistance and recovery support is crucial as the window to avert yet more devastating hunger is closing fast.”

In Sudan, Famine was confirmed in 2024. Conditions are expected to persist due to the continuing conflict and ongoing displacement, particularly in the Greater Kordofan and Greater Darfur regions. Displacement is likely to increase further during the outlook period while humanitarian access remains restricted. The circumstances are driving the country towards the risk of partial economic collapse, with high inflation severely limiting food access. Around 24.6 million people were projected to face Crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above) levels of acute food insecurity, including 637,000 people facing Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) through May 2025.

The Hunger Hotspots report is, however, part of a US and EU funded suite of analytical products produced under the Global Network Against Food Crises, to enhance and coordinate the generation and sharing of evidence-based information and analysis for preventing and addressing food crises.

This series also includes the recently published 2025 Global Report on Food Crises, which retroactively looks at the levels of acute food insecurity in 2024, in complement to the Hunger Hotspots which is a forward-looking early warning system that provides decision makers with information for planning and resource allocation.

In Palestine, the likelihood of famine in the Gaza Strip is growing as large-scale military operations hinder the ability to deliver vital food and non-food humanitarian assistance. In addition to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Gaza Strip, high food prices coupled with exhausted livelihoods and a commercial blockade will accelerate an

The entire population in Gaza – 2.1 million people – is projected to face crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above) levels of acute food insecurity, with 470,000 projected to face Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) through September 2025.

South Sudan faces compounding threats from political tensions, the risk of flooding, and economic challenges. Approximately 7.7 million people – or 57 percent of the population – are projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above) between April and July 2025, with 63,000 people projected to face Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) levels of acute food insecurity. An IPC update released after the report’s finalization indicated Risk of Famine in two areas of the country and confirmed the bleak outlook.

In Haiti, record levels of gang violence and insecurity are displacing communities and crippling aid access. Over 8,400 internally displaced persons (IDPs) already facing Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) levels of acute food insecurity in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area by June 2025.

In Mali, high grain prices and ongoing conflict are eroding the coping capacities of the most vulnerable households, particularly in conflict-affected areas. Around 2 600 people are at risk of Catastrophe (CH Phase 5) from June to August 2025 if assistance is not provided on time.

In Myanmar, the impact of the recent major earthquake is likely to worsen the already dire food insecurity situation in the country, driven by escalating conflict, widespread displacement, severe access restrictions and high food prices.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been reintroduced to the hotspot list due to intensifying conflict. In contrast, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lebanon, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have been removed from the Hunger Hotspots list. In East and Southern Africa, as well as in Niger, better climatic conditions for harvests and fewer weather extremes have eased food security pressures. Lebanon has also been delisted following reduced intensity of military operations. However, FAO and WFP warn that these gains remain fragile and could reverse quickly if shocks re-emerge.

In multiple hotspots, aid delivery is significantly hampered by restricted humanitarian access due to insecurity, bureaucratic impediments, or physical isolation. At the same time, critical funding shortfalls are forcing reductions in food rations, limiting the reach of life-saving nutrition and agricultural interventions.

However, WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organisation saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.

In the meantime, obviously pushed by the public outrage,
President Tinubu on Wednesday, expressed concern about the failure of Nigeria s security agencies to effect the arrest of the perpetrators of the killings in Benue and accordingly directed their immediate arrest.
He expressed his concern while addressing a stakeholders and top security officers meeting, specifically asking why no suspect had been arrested in spite of the persistent violence.

Directing his question to the top security brass that included the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Mohammed Mohammed, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi, among others, Tinubu them charged them to as a matter of urgency, identify, apprehend, and prosecute those responsible for the violence and deaths of hundreds of persons and the displacement of thousands in the state.

His directive came amid growing public outrage over the continued attacks in Benue which are often attributed to armed herders and farmers’ clashes. “The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, thank you very much. I listened to your comments and I know you can’t be tired of staying in the bush and Oloyede and Air Marshal, I thank all of you.

“We need to keep our ears to the ground. Let’s get those criminals. Let’s get them out. So, DG NIA and DG DSS retreat your information channels, and let’s have tangible intelligence that this will not occur again. Thank you very much”, Tinubu said. He also visited injured victims of the Yelewata massacre allegedly carried out by herdsmen that are receiving treatment in the hospitals and commiserate with the people.

For now, while blood continues to flow in the Middle-Belt as one of the gushing oil wells of the polluted Niger Delta, the Hunger Hotspots report highlights the importance of continued investments in early humanitarian action. Pre-emptive interventions save lives, reduce food gaps, and protect assets and livelihoods at a significantly lower cost than delayed humanitarian action.