BY REV FR GERALD NWAFOR
The ban has just been lifted on the campaign for the presidential, gubernatorial, senatorial, and House of Representatives elections to start. Nigerians, please pay attention to the politician who will put food on the table. Anybody telling you anything without translating it into real kitchen table economics is a fraud. All these stories about GDP and income per capita are window dressing. Think about kerosene, gas, and firewood first; second, think about foodstuffs; and finally consider the transport, which is the ordinary means of conveying the foodstuffs from point A to point B. Do not look at the coastal highway project because the repair of the local roads could have benefited us more. The price of a bag of rice should be a source of worry to us more than telling us that the president is removing or bringing back the fuel subsidy. If the candidate is talking about how he will cultivate the arable lands in our country and stop the bandits and the terrorists from harassing the farmers and the herdsmen, that is what we need now. It is a healthy man who drives a car on a good coastal highway. Meanwhile, the contractor and the employer cannot even give a clear picture of how the contract was awarded. Back to the kitchen table politics since that is our concern for now. If the minimum wage of 70,000 naira could feed a family of seven comfortably, I can assure you that the government has succeeded. But with 70,000 naira, you cannot even feed yourself for one month; do not listen to the lies. All the campaign promises should be about the kitchen table, since at the social table of life and politics, the first thing that a society needs to be peaceful is food. We can survive without clothes, without roads, without GDP and all those indices that come from economics, but none of us can survive without food on the table.
The power of civilization started with agricultural industrialization before technology. The ancient philosophers said that it was after eating that man begins to philosophize. The Igbo philosophers said that “Eburo onu gba afa,” (You don’t invoke the spirit on an empty stomach). Any good discussion should start after meals (Elijuo afo uka abaa na nti). All this campaign talk should signify one thing in Nigeria today: how do we take care of hunger? Anything less doesn’t mean anything. There should be a conscious act for the government to take care of our kitchen this time around.
Western civilization has seen the importance of kitchen table politics and hewed into it heavily. There might be war in the Gulf of Iran (aka Strait of Hormuz), Ukraine, and Israel, but the food supply chain should be protected by the system. Where are we seeing that behavior today in the Nigerian system? Nowhere; only buying private jets and SUVs. Imagine if one quarter of the money borrowed over the last three years were invested in agriculture: Nigeria would be feeding West Africa and the world. The government in power will not do it because it does not benefit them personally and directly. The president of Brazil, Lula de Silva, tried it 10 years ago, and the story has not ended, and he was called back to repeat the magic. Pulling people out of poverty always starts with the food supply because if you have good control over your food supply, then people can save. Savings primarily are the amount remain after you have eaten. You cannot be hungry, and you are building a mansion. Who will live in the mansion if you die of hunger?
The real economic talk in this year’s campaign should be an agricultural revolution. Holland has no oil, but its agricultural prowess is all over the world. Do not be surprised that the milk you are drinking is from Holland, and likewise your cheese and butter. What is that one agricultural product that you will say that we are known for? I think none. Do you know that Ukraine still supplies the world with grains (corn, wheat, rapeseed, seed oils, sunflower) even in wartime? The government invested heavily in grain production in the 90s, and with time, Ukraine supplies 20% of the world’s grain.
We do not need fertilizer to produce corn. If a government that cares for the people comes into power, the amount of corn Nigeria will produce in Eastern Nigeria alone would challenge Ukraine and the rest of the world. The question would be, are the people in power ready to do it? I remember Pat Utomi saying to the Tinubu government in 2023 when they came into power that they should gather low-hanging fruit by planting maize (corn) massively. That in three months they would reap the benefits. Pat was ignored, and his idea was never implemented. Imagine what it would be if Nigeria were supplying the whole of Africa with corn. Nobody is looking in that direction.
Finally, we should all make a wise decision this time around. Nobody should tell us that he is from our tribe and our religion. Tribe and religion do not put food on the table. Hard work and sincerity should put food on the table. The idea that Atiku wants to bring back subsidy is a sign that he has run out of ideas. Petrol subsidy is dead and buried. A true candidate should look at the way of helping private citizens open more refineries to compete with Dangote and place kerosene and gas into a healthy market competition. The area we should be looking at, if there should be any kind of subsidy, should be agriculture and schools.
Fuel subsidy became a criminal enterprise that has destroyed the fabric of the nation for the longest time. Although the government of Tinubu removed the subsidy, it is a good policy but with bad implementation, since it was shrouded in secrecy. There was no committee for the removal, and there was no clear path for what the money from the subsidy was used for because the question still lingers till today: “Are we paying subsidy or not?” Nobody knows the real situation. The removal of the subsidy removed food from the kitchen but could have been managed well by putting the money into agriculture, and more food would have been added to the kitchen table. So, any candidate who cannot tell us how he plans to increase the inflow into the kitchen table should not be taken seriously. We need kitchen table politicians in 2027.
