A home to over 200 million people, Nigeria is blessed with abundant natural resources. Touted as one of the largest economies on the African continent, Nigeria is paradoxically a poor country sitting on rich, unharnessed potential.
Despite its economic potential, many Nigerians continue to be plunged into abject poverty.
In December 2023, World Bank reported that the percentage of Nigerians living in poverty had risen to 46%, representing about 104 million people.
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), a non-profit private sector organisation that champions reform of the Nigerian economy into a modern globally inclusive and open economy, said in January 2024 that Nigeria’s food inflation rose to 35.41% from 33.9% in December 2023, adding that the number of Nigerians suffering food insecurity surged to 100 million in Q1 2024 from 66.2 million in Q1 2023.
In what appears to be a practical representation of these gloomy statistics, many Nigerians, left with no options, have settled for palliative packages distributed by either the government or private individuals to cushion the effect of hardship.
But the exercise is not without issues; it has been fraught with stampedes occasioned by desperate struggle for food items.
In February, seven persons reportedly died in a stampede in Lagos when citizens trooped out to buy seized rice put on sale by the Nigeria Customs Service.
An eyewitness, who spoke to Daily Trust, Comfort James, a 27-year-old woman, said: “You can see videos of the stampede online on X, but I tell you it was worse in reality. I got there by 11am and met an uncontrollable crowd. Customs tried everything they could to control the crowd but couldn’t succeed.
“It wasn’t organised as we thought it would be. Police came but they didn’t come to aid the distribution; they came to collect bags of rice for themselves.”
The Spokesperson of the Customs, Abdullahi Maiwada, said some people fainted during the stampede and were rushed to the hospital.
Barely a week later, a similar tragedy befell two female students of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi.
According to an eyewitness, the deceased students were among those who took to the venue where the palliative was being distributed.
“What we are hearing now is that two female students have died. They were said to have been suffocated because of the crowd and they were later declared dead by the healthcare workers,” the source said.
The National President of the Nasarawa State Students Association, Yunusa Yusuf Baduku, who confirmed the incident, said, “Seriously, what happened this morning at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, is uncalled for, and very pathetic.”
In a more tragic incident, about 15 people were reportedly killed in a stampede at a Zakat distribution exercise in Bauchi extended by AYM Shafa, a business mogul in the state.
Giving an account of the incident, which occurred on Sunday, March 24, a resident told Daily Trust that problem started when the crowd overpowered the security operatives manning the entrance of the AYM Shafa head office, the venue where the exercise took place.
The source added that as people attempted to flee the venue, some were trampled over, resulting in deaths and injuries.
The Bauchi State Police Command, through its Public Relations Officer, SP Ahmed Wakili, on Monday said, “Seven people have now died following the stampede.”
Engage experts’ services in distribution exercise – Cleric
A Bauchi-based Islamic scholar, Dr. Ibrahim Adam Umar Disina, has called on wealthy individuals giving out Zakkat to engage the services of experts who can roll out innovative and effective methods of the distribution of the alms to prevent a repeat of the stampede.
He said, “Zakkat is a religious obligation which Allah has ordained wealthy individuals to give out to certain people. Zakkat is the entitlement of the poor; it is a type of ‘sadaqah’ that is compulsory.
“In Islam we have the compulsory sadaqah and voluntary sadaqah. In the glorious Qur’an, in Surah At Tawbah, Allah has mentioned to us the 8 people who are eligible to receive zakkat; some among whom are the poor, the needy, those employed to administer the zakkat, etc. It is permissible for the poor to ask for it or demand it from the wealthy individuals that give it out.
“Zakat, contrary to what many people say or think, is not a way of enriching the poor or reducing the number of masses. Zakat is a relief and it’s given to cushion the effect of hardship.” the cleric explained.
On how the alms should be administered, Dr. Disina said, “It is difficult to say which particular method is the best. If in the past people had gathered and collected Zakat and it (the gathering method) worked for them, a similar method may not be suitable now.
“In Nigeria, if you call a specific number of people to give them alms, palliative or any form of assistance, many will turn up because of inflation in the country and limited resources at the disposal of many people. If now the gathering can cause harm or result in a situation that would call for the suspension of the exercise or result in death, then it is good to exploit other ways to go about the distribution exercise.
“Since we have tried this method (of gathering people in large number to give them alms) and it failed, I think it is important to exploit other ways that are more efficient, innovative and effective. ‘Insanity’, according to Albert Einstein, ‘is making the same mistakes and expecting different results.’ Islam is a flexible religion and goes with what is in vogue. If you try this method and it fails, you can try another. And it is important to also understand that what works here in Bauchi may not work in, say, Lagos.
“We must roll out other ways, especially by leveraging technology to make the process and exercise efficient and even less strenuous. It is important for our wealthy people to consult with and engage the services of experts who can fashion out better ways to carry-out the exercise. Even if this means paying them for the services with part of the Zakat money, it is permissible, only that care has to be taken to ensure fairness in the process.”
Stampedes signs of imminent anarchy – Analyst
Dr. Babayo Sule, a lecturer and Head of the Department of International Relations at Federal University of Kashere in Gombe State, said that the wild stampedes lately witnessed in the country were strong signals to government and policy makers to take urgent actions to address the widespread hunger in the country.
He warned that if adequate measures were not put in place, the situation would soon get out of hands and plunge the country into anarchy.
He said, “It is a terrible incident and unfortunate. It’s a very strong warning and a signal being sent to the government and the policy makers that hunger in the land is pushing people to unbearable and unprecedented level whereby if care is not taken and if adequate measures are not put in place, it will lead us to anarchy because now people are stampeding and killing themselves in order to get what they will eat.
“In a situation whereby what they will eat cannot not be got and they will not have access to even where they can march upon themselves to get the food, the next thing is to march upon the policy makers and that is where we will have chaos, a riot and a protest that will not be contained, and in the worst-case scenario, this can lead to anarchy which we are not praying for.
“Therefore, let the government listen to the poor and address their plight. The government and policy makers should know that they are ruling people and not animals. These people are sending you a very strong message in a language that is very clear and glaring to all. This is a bad omen and a sign that the land is directly and clearly looming towards anarchy. It’s a doom!
“But to me, Nigeria is not a poor country to warrant or deserve such an unfortunate incident. It’s a rich country inhabited by extremely poor people because of acrobatic policies, because of adherence to inimical IMF and World Bank policies that are always destroying our economy and our society.”
Dr. Sule called on government to look beyond Ramadan feeding programmes and palliative distribution and come up with better strategies that will squarely address hunger in the country.
He added, “The truth of the matter is that whether we like it or not, we have to restore fuel subsidy; it’s obtained everywhere in the world. Although it cannot be N190 again, it has to be restored to a certain considerable level.
“We have to stabilise our naira. No country will just free its currency and allow it to float at the whims of the market. When you’re making micro and macro-economic policies, you have to think of all the sectors that will be affected, because an economic policy always has a trickledown effect.
“The best palliative to me is a palliative that will go round, not a palliative that will be selective. When the government was subsidising fuel, everyone in Nigeria was benefiting in one way or the other; it’s going round because a farmer in a village was benefiting likewise a civil servant in the city.
“Now if you select some few households and give them palliative and pay wage awards to government workers, what about the other majority who are not recognised as poor and who are not civil servants and who also need this assistance? The best palliative to me is for the government to restore some percentage of the subsidy in such a way that the price of fuel will crash and then prices of food commodities will drop down.”
