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Nigerians are hungry, losing patience with your Govt — Senate tells President Tinubu
The Senate has urgently called upon the federal government to tackle the pressing issue of hunger caused by food insecurity, which it has identified as an emergency situation.
In response to rising food insecurity, the Senate has urged President Bola Tinubu’s administration to implement effective measures to combat the crisis. It emphasized that with increasing hunger and poverty, people’s patience and tolerance are wearing thin.
Furthermore, the Senate cautioned against an impending crisis, warning that the country cannot afford the unrest that could erupt in its streets. It stressed the need for immediate action by the Executive arm of government to address the grievances of the people and avoid taking their support for granted.
Over recent months, the Senate observed a significant increase in the prices of goods and household essentials across Nigeria. This surge has led to heightened inflation rates, diminished purchasing power, and a deterioration in the living conditions of the majority of Nigerians.
As an urgent response to the food scarcity problem, the Senate disclosed that the Federal Government has dispatched 60 trucks of fertilizer to each of the 36 states, allocating two trucks per Senator and one per member of the House of Representatives.
These Senate resolutions followed a motion titled “Urgent Need to Address Food Insecurity and Market Exploitation of Consumables in Nigeria,” sponsored by Senator Sunday Karimi of Kogi West, APC, and co-sponsored by Senate Whip Senator Ali Ndume of Borno South, APC.
Senator Karimi highlighted the recent steep rise in the prices of goods and household essentials, which has exacerbated inflation and worsened living conditions for many Nigerians.
According to him, ” the latest data by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics shows that food inflation in the country skyrocketed to 40.66 per cent on a year-on-year basis, a significant increase from the 24.82 per cent recorded in May 2023.”
He said that the Senate is “Aware the current market price of food items such as beans, maize, rice paddy, yam, tomatoes, and onions which initially rose by about 40% after the removal of petroleum Subsidy has now increased to over 100% to 300% without any attributable reason for the increase in prices;
He added that the Senate is “Further aware that although insecurity in food-producing regions, bad roads, increase in the cost of transportation attributable to the removal of fuel subsidy and depreciation of the value of Naira, are possible factors that have contributed to the increase in the price of Food items, Household Commodities, and Consumables; the percentage of increase in the cost of transportation and some under factors listed above is significantly less than the percentage increase in the current prices of goods all over the country;
“Concerned that the greater percentage of the increase in prices of food items and consumables in the Country is not only due to these factors but to the zest of the merchants, traders, and retailers to make supernormal profits whilst they excuse the hike in price on these factors (depreciation of the Naira against the Dollar, increase in price of Petroleum Products due to Fuel price increase and insecurity in farming Regions), thereby heaping all the blame on the Federal Government;
“Notes that there is a general attitude of “Get Rich Quickly” or “Get Rich By All Means” leading many Nigerians to jettison “being their brother’s keeper” and exploiting one another to make abnormal profits: This attitude has been justified on the basis that many members of the Political Class, Technocrats, and Corporate Elites have helped themselves with Public Funds without any repercussions in Law, Nigerian Traders have thus resorted to Price Gouging to maximize profits;
“Further notes that there are reports that Farming Communities in the Border Regions with other Countries, prefer to sell their food items abroad (to these neighbouring countries), rather than domestically(to the hinterland), thereby increasing local food insecurity; and Concludes that all efforts made by the current Federal Executive to arrest the consistent increase in food inflation have not yielded the desired results, there is a need to be more pragmatic about addressing food insecurity, curbing herder farmer crises, kidnapping for ransom, and Terrorism, and ensure the development of a viable National Commodity Board to regulate the price of grains and ensure the elimination of artificial contributions to food and commodity inflation in Nigeria.”
In his contribution, Ndume who lamented that this was the first time Nigeria was listed as one of the countries battling food insecurity, said, “In their many publications, they say Nigeria is likely to experience the highest session of food insecurity globally.
“Currently, there are four countries including Sudan and some others that are facing very serious insecurity. Nigeria is added to this list this year by the International Rescue Committee as one of the spots for food insecurity action against hunger. World Food Program also indicated that over 32 million people are expected to face a critical hunger crisis and emerging levels between June and August.
“I don’t know about some other colleagues, but there in the North, we have started seeing it visibly. This is the first time we are experiencing this level of hunger. It’s the first time Nigeria is being listed as one of the countries with food insecurity.”
On his part, the immediate past President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, APC, Yobe North told his colleagues that the people are really hungry in the country, warning that patience and tolerance are both elastic, but they are not eternally elastic, just as he took a swipe at the Federal Government, saying that the government has nothing in the food Reserve across the Country and that the Silos are empty.
Lawan said, “Let me say here that patience, and tolerance, are both elastic but they are not eternally elastic. Our students are facing real, real anger. I travelled the two states last week, in the north particularly, and I’ve seen first-hand how people, especially those who are not in the civil service, nor in any business, are suffering, fighting, and struggling to have food at least once a day.
“Under normal circumstances, Mr. President, in the rainy season, from maybe June up to September or October, when there will be harvests of new foodstuff, prices escalate prices of foodstuff. Now we don’t even have that the truth. Mr. President in today’s national daily, the Executive arm of government is saying it is considering reducing or removing taxes on imported foodstuff.
” Here’s the catch. This Senate must engage the executive immediately. What are the issues? Which taxes are they talking about? Because we should be seen to be doing the right thing. We have little or nothing in our food reserve across the country. And nobody. If they come and tell us, they will distribute foodstuff from our silos, the silos are empty. So it means we have to import food. And if we have to import, it means we need foreign exchange.
“We wouldn’t like the kind of thing that we see in our streets and it is time that we take every possible action to get out of the event of the arm of government to ensure that food floods our country, the right food. In portation, the government must be entirely responsible because we cannot, we cannot take people for granted for too long. We have come almost to the end of the patience. And I think the elasticity is now going to snap if we are not careful.”
…demands full investigation report from DSS
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been called upon, to as a matter of urgent necessity, arraign its former Chairman, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa to court, over multiple corruption allegations against him.
The Coalition of Activists Against Corruption in Nigeria (CAACIN), handed this charge, through a statement in Kaduna, Thursday morning.
In the statement signed by the Spokesperson of the Coalition, Comrade Ahmed Aliyu, the Department of State Services (DSS) was also challenged to make public, the report of their investigation, in the over four months detention and interrogation of the erstwhile EFCC Boss in their custody in 2023.
“It is not possible to detian a man of his caliber for 5 months, for nothing. We invite the DSS to make open, the report of their findings. There were multiple corruption allegations against Bawa which the EFCC and DSS were also aware. Nigerians can’t afford to let these be swept under the carpet”, the statement read in part.
The Coalition’s call is coming barely three days after a group, Citizens Forum for Transparency and Integrity (CFTI), in a statement by its President, Alhaji Aminu Mustapha Gidado, in Lagos; accused Bawa of working secretly with the opposition figures to discredit President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
In what the group described as “coordinated and sinister,” the CFTI alleged that Bawa recently met with key opposition figures in London, where discussions were held on using his former contacts within the EFCC to target four serving Ministers in Tinubu’s cabinet.
While reacting on Thursday, the Coalition of Activists Against Corruption in Nigeria also frowned at the rationale behind keeping those appointees and close allies of the ex-Chairman in the Commission, two years after he was sacked.
The Coalition said, “it does not make any sense to still keep the appointees and close allies of a man who was severally accused of embezzlement, fraud, bribery and other corrupt practices in the system. It is as good as still having the corrupt man in the system. Aside the fact that the system will remain corrupted by them, it’s also a simple logic that the ex-Chairman could use them to sabotage the Commission and the government.
“Keeping those Bawa appointed or employed in his two years sway in the Commission is just to say that the EFCC is sitting on a time bomb, as it would only take time for his loyalists to begin sabotage the fight against corruption and rubbish the integrity of the Tinubu’s anti-corruption stance.
“It is on this note that we demand that the DSS should avail the public the report of their investigation. The EFCC should as a a matter of urgent necessity, charge Abdulrasheed Bawa to court. The Commission should also purge itself by showing those Bawa brought in, the way out”.
It would be recalled that, President Tinubu suspended Abdulrasheed Bawa as Acting Chairman of the EFCC in June 2023, exactly two weeks after he took over power. The DSS subsequently picked him same day and detained him in Yellow House for 134 days, without giving reason for his arrest or disclose what the result of their investigation was.
Several credible media houses within and outside the country have reported stories about an alleged embezzlement of public funds by the former EFCC boss. Many organizations, including the North Central Citizens Council (NCCC), have also called for full investigation into the allegations levelled against Bawa, even when he was still in the office.
One of the allegations was that the former Chairman expended a large amount of money to the tune of $300,000 for hotels and other activities, which is far and beyond his income as civil servant, during a visit to Mecca with his family on a lesser Hajj, while still in the office.
There were also reports of how Bawa was probed by the current EFCC Chief, Ola Olukoyede, in 2019, over alleged sales of seized assets worth over N4.8 billion, while Bawa was overseeing the Lagos Zonal Office of the Commission; though the EFCC refuted this claim in 2021.
In his last days as Governor of Zamfara State, Mallam Bello Matawalle, had also, during an interview with the BBC Hausa in May 2023, accused Bawa of demanding a bribe of two million dollars from him.
“If he exits office, people will surely know he is not an honest person. I have evidence against him. Let him vacate the office, I am telling you within 10 seconds probably more than 200 people will bring evidence of bribes he collected from them. He knows what he requested from me but I declined.
“He requested a bribe of two million dollars from me and I have evidence of this. He knows the house we met, he invited me and told me the conditions. He told me governors were going to his office but I did not. If I don’t have evidence, I won’t say this,” the governor said in the interview”, Matawalle had told BBCHausa.
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is preparing for a pivotal meeting today to finalize arrangements for the upcoming National Executive Committee (NEC) gathers momentum.
This meeting takes place amid escalating tensions over the party’s national secretaryship, a dispute that has deepened divisions within the PDP.
The crisis has intensified as the South-East zonal caucus has threatened to withdraw from the party unless their nominee, Sunday Ude-Okoye, is officially confirmed for the national secretary role.
At the heart of the conflict is the leadership tussle between Samuel Anyanwu and Ude-Okoye. Despite a general agreement among PDP governors to replace Anyanwu, who lost the 2023 Imo State governorship election, the matter remains unresolved.
However, a key PDP figure, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, insists that Anyanwu should be allowed to complete his tenure. Wike has even threatened legal action, warning that any communication with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)—including the notice for the NEC meeting scheduled for May 27—must bear Anyanwu’s signature.
The forthcoming NEC meeting, set for May 27, is viewed as a crucial opportunity to address the party’s internal challenges and lay the groundwork for the national convention slated for August.
To help mediate the crisis, PDP governors and stakeholders have formed a seven-member committee, led by former Senate President Bukola Saraki, tasked with finding a resolution.
Besides tackling the leadership dispute, today’s NWC meeting will also address ongoing security issues at the PDP national secretariat, Wadata Plaza in Abuja. The secretariat has been repeatedly targeted by thugs amid the secretaryship conflict, raising safety concerns among staff, some of whom have requested that meetings be held offsite in the past.
The NWC is expected to consider restructuring the security arrangements to enhance protection. The recent endorsement of acting national secretary Setonji Koshoedo by 83 PDP administrative staff underscores the urgency of resolving these matters.
Sources within the party, speaking to Daily Trust, say the NWC is committed to ensuring the NEC meeting proceeds as planned despite attempts by some factions to obstruct it.
“One faction is still working to block the NEC meeting, but the NWC is focused on getting the process started and making sure the meeting happens,” one source said.
The source added, “Security concerns are also high on the agenda. The secretariat has been invaded multiple times during the secretaryship dispute. Staff safety remains a serious issue — at one point, even the Board of Trustees had to hold meetings outside the secretariat. The NWC aims to implement a comprehensive security overhaul.”
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
As of Wednesday, May 14, 2025, the exchange rate for the US Dollar to the Nigerian Naira on the Lagos Parallel Market (commonly referred to as the black market) stands at ₦1,625 for buying and ₦1,630 for selling.
This information is based on data obtained from reliable sources within the Bureau De Change (BDC) community.
It is important to emphasize that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) does not endorse or recognize the black market. The apex bank has consistently advised individuals and businesses seeking foreign exchange to make use of official channels by contacting their respective commercial banks.
USD to NGN (Black Market) Exchange Rate
Buying Rate ₦1,625
Selling Rate ₦1,630
Official CBN Dollar to Naira Rate – May 14, 2025
USD to NGN (CBN Rate) Rate
Highest Rate ₦1,600
Lowest Rate ₦1,595
Please keep in mind that the rates listed here are subject to market fluctuations and may vary depending on the location, time of transaction, and volume of currency exchanged.
Exchange rates are constantly changing due to market dynamics. This article provides indicative rates and should not be considered as financial advice. For the most accurate and up-to-date rates, consult with your bank or a licensed Bureau De Change operator.
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