Nigeria Youth Forum Blames Systemic Corruption for Food Insecurity, Warns of Hunger Crisis for 25 Million

The Nigeria Youth Forum (NYF) has pinpointed systemic corruption as the main cause of Nigeria’s escalating food insecurity crisis, warning that over 25 million Nigerians could face acute hunger without urgent intervention. In a statement released on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, NYF National President Comrade Toriah Olajide Filani expressed alarm over the diversion of agricultural machinery, inadequate budgetary commitments, and weak oversight of key programs. He called Nigeria’s dependence on food imports and international aid a “national tragedy and policy failure,” given the country’s vast arable land, of which only 35 percent is currently cultivated, mostly by subsistence-level smallholder farmers lacking modern tools or support.

Filani criticized the government’s allocation of just 1.32 percent of the 2024 national budget to agriculture, far below the African Union’s recommended 10 percent under the Maputo and Malabo Declarations. He noted that agricultural machinery intended for community use is often diverted and sold, undermining food sufficiency efforts. While acknowledging the 128 percent increase in the 2025 agriculture budget to ₦826 billion, Filani stressed that only 15 to 19 percent of budgeted funds typically reach the sector due to bureaucratic inefficiencies and corruption. He highlighted agriculture’s potential to reduce youth unemployment, boost GDP, and curb rural insecurity, citing Kano State’s success in lowering insecurity through agricultural investments.

The NYF urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to declare a national agricultural emergency and launch a youth-focused, innovation-driven revival plan, including youth-led cooperatives, mechanized farming schemes, and state-level productivity benchmarks. The group also called for a transparent public dashboard to track agricultural project delivery and budget implementation in real time. Filani warned that without accountability and measurable impact, reforms would remain superficial. Referencing FAO and NBS data, he cautioned that Nigeria’s trajectory, underscored by its 103rd ranking out of 121 countries in the 2023 Global Hunger Index, could deepen poverty, insecurity, and economic stagnation, stressing that Nigeria should be Africa’s food basket, not a nation of hungry people on fertile soil.