By Vivian Daniel
The Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP), Michael Terungwa David has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to implement the Right to Food and Food Security Act, cited as part of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fifth Alteration) (No. 34) Act, 2023 which require the Government to direct its policy towards ensuring right to food and food security in Nigeria.
He made the call at a one-day media training on the Right to Food Act organised by GIFSEP and ably supported by OXFARM in Nigeria held in Abuja on Wednesday 26th February 2025. He emphasised the need to create awareness that “food is one of the basic human rights” and for the Government at all levels to make food available for all well-meaning Nigerians.
Opening Speech, the Need for Citizens to be Sensitised on the Right to Food Act, its Background and Thoughts on the Politics of Palliative in Nigeria
In his opening and welcome address, Terungwa pointed out the disturbing fact that it appears government only gets data on whatever they are interested in getting data on alongside the issue of procurement of farming equipment when there is no major plan to utilise them.
He emphasised the need for the government to give priority to providing adequate data on every Nigerian. For instance, he noted that by 2050, Nigeria will have about 400 million people while stating the need for her to feed herself and its people. He revealed that 40 per cent of land in Benue State, Nigeria is no longer available because of insecurity, climate change, etc. This means that in no time from now, Benue State may no longer be the food basket of the nation as it is usually referred to.
“So generally, the awareness creation on the Right to Food Act in Nigeria has been very low. Millions of Nigerians are not even aware that there is a law that makes food a basic human right and their responsibility is to ask for accountability and transparency on the part of the government. This is why we organised this training to sensitise journalists about the Act. It’s been two years since it was signed into law. And the most important thing is that it is also an amendment of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution and any law is as strong as its implementation. And the implementation of the Right to Food Act may not happen without awareness and to build the political will for the implementation of this law, we need the citizens to be involved.
“For citizens to be involved, they must know about the Act and we cannot achieve this without the involvement of journalists. Our call is very simple. We are calling on President Tinubu to ensure that the Act is implemented as his administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda will be incomplete without the implementation of the Right to Food Act because the right to food is also a national security issue,” he highlighted.
While establishing the background of the Right to Food Act, Terungwa stressed that the Act is on the Concurrent List which makes the state governors also a part and parcel of ensuring food is made available to their people and should have a budget strictly for food security.
“The urgent need to adequately feed Nigeria’s growing population requires strategic collaboration across all sectors. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria identifies food provision as one of the government’s economic objectives. However, the specifics of what the government must do and what citizens can expect from the provision were not clearly outlined, highlighting the need for a more comprehensive clause in the Constitution. To address this, the Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, was signed into law on March 3rd, 2023, “Right to Food Act,” significantly amends the food provision clause to enhance food security for the nation and its people, making it a priority in government policies.
While responding to newsmen and Sundiata Post about his thoughts on the politics of palliative in Nigeria and the effective way for the government to provide for its people, Terungwa said “The questions to ask should be ‘how much of the national budget for food security in 2024 was implemented,’ the amount budgeted for 2025, whether or not it will be enough to solve the food security issues like hunger, malnutrition and other social issues around the country. So, if you take care of food and everyone is well-fed, it is a huge development for the country and it saves the government on the health budget as well. Palliative is not a sustainable way of ensuring food security in the country. When you give the people palliative, you are indirectly making them dependent on you alongside using it as a political campaign tactic which is not good and that is not what we want.
“When we say the government should guarantee the availability, accessibility and affordability of food in the country, it means that in this era of climate change, we should go the part of climate-smart and ensure that smallholder farmers are supported. The fact is that smallholder farmers feed the nation which has been proven globally. There must be security for them so they can go back to their farms instead of focusing more on the big commercial farmers who are mainly for export purposes. The food waste in the country is nearly about 40 per cent of what we produce. For instance, we can build chains of cold rooms in communities so farmers can preserve their food properly. Food security should start at the community level.”
Overview of Nigeria’s Right to Food Law and the Different Stages it Endured
The keynote speaker, Prof. Gbolagade Ayoola, Executive Director of Farm Infrastructure Foundation (FIF), popularly known as ‘The Father of the Right to Food Act,’ spoke on “Understanding the Right to Food Act”. He took the audience through the different stages the Act went through before it got passed into law. He noted the notional, development, governance and philosophical contexts of the Food Act.
- “Started in 2010 during 6th Assembly – Memorandum stage (which failed)
- Six Assembly– (2007-2011) – The Bill was introduced at the instance of FIF, in the House of Representatives, seeking amendment of Chapter 2 of the Constitution. But this attempt also failed at the First Reading stage before the tenure of that assembly expired in 2011.
- Seventh Assembly (2011-2015) – Then the Bill was freshly introduced at the Senate, seeking amendment of Chapter 4 of the Constitution and vigorously pursued in terms of legislative advocacy and increased commitment. However, it also failed at the First Reading stages in both chambers, before the expiration of that assembly in 2015.
- Eighth Assembly (2015-2019) – The two Bills were reviewed and recast by FIF into a single legislative Bill, and simultaneously reintroduced at both the House of Representatives and Senate; at which time the Bill succeeded and passed the First Reading and Second Reading stages, thereby entering the committee stage in each chamber. However, the Bill failed again, so it was not tabled for the Third and final Reading in either chamber before the tenure of that assembly expired in 2019.
- Ninth Assembly (2019-2023) – The current version of the Bill was reintroduced, again by FIF in both chambers, following which it smoothly progressed in passage from the First Reading to Second Reading, and to Committee/Third reading stages, successfully; and eventually received the blessing of the individual and joint committees of the Constitution review committees, thereby reaching the stage of voting. Voting took place in each chamber in March 2022 when it was overwhelmingly passed – House of Representatives (296 YES vs 2 NOs); and Senate (81 YES vs 5 NOs).
- Next is to meet the mandatory requirement of a YES vote in 2/3 of the 36 States of the Federation (24 States) for the concurrence with the Bill, before seeking the assent of the President to sign it into law. Fortuitously, by December 2022, with vigorous advocacy work the Bill had received the YES votes of 27 States; so, it subsequently received the presidential assent in March 2023,” he said.
Likewise, he stressed that the answer to the Food Act and the Right to Food Security is not in the deployment of technology, equipment and/or in the establishment of programmes while stating that since 1960 to date when the government began to etablish food and agricultural programmes like ‘Operation Feed the Nation’ (1976), Green Revolution (1979), Back to Land Agricultural Policy (1983), Directorate of Foods and Roads and Infrastructure, DFFRI (1986)…, National Agricultural Policy (NAP) under the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, NEEDS (1999), Agricultural Transformation Agenda, ATA (2010), Agriculture Promotion Policy (APP): Agriculture policy and strategy document of the President Buhari Administration (2015), and others, they have yet to yield any long-lasting results irrespective of its gigantic objectives.
He equally revealed that since March 2023 when the Act was amended and passed into Law, the government has yet to do anything about it neither has anyone made any statement regarding it. He established that the policy of silence on the part of the government is also a policy. He noted that the right to food is more than a mere human need but a fundamental human right.
Obligations of the Government on the Right to Food Act and Appeal to the Media
Gbolagade further clarified while responding to newsmen and Sundiata Post that “Food is one of the fundamental human rights. It is a basic necessity of everyone although it is being perceived as a mere human need whereby if human need is not met, there is someone responsible for such, which is inconsequential. We must ensure to make food a contemporary belief as it is being seen globally as a basic human right, where we to claim our rights for food under any circumstances…so that if anyone enters the Court of Law seeking his or her rights or justice for food security upon violation, it will be granted. We are happy that The Right to Food is now a Law in Nigeria, which can also be a panacea to the current hunger being experienced in the country.”
He noted the Obligations of the Government regarding the Rights to Food Act which are:
- Obligation to respect the right to food – i.e. to recognise it in policy and practice, which stipulates the state’s exercise of power to refrain from acts capable of destroying people’s access to food through unfavourable public policies;
- Obligation to protect the right to food – i.e. to protect it at all times from injurious practices, which entails regulation of the activities of state and non-state actors including the private sector that are inimical to people’s food entitlements; and
- Obligation to fulfil the right to food – i.e. to help people in protracted suffering from hunger and malnutrition with physical provision of food at critical times, which entails the provision of food assistance to vulnerable groups (children, lactating mothers, etc.) and other such people as those that are temporarily displaced from their natural habitats.
Furthermore, he encouraged newsmen and women to take the Right to Food Act and Food Security awareness campaign seriously as it is more like a spiritual call and a mission to spread such good news to every nook and cranny of our nation.
Other Contributors at the Media Training on the Right to Food Act and Conclusion
The guest speaker and producer of the ‘Morning Brief’ at Channels TV, Patrick Orlu Oluwaseun, spoke on the “Media’s Role in Advocating for the Right to Food”. He highlighted the need for journalists to focus their news reportage and presentation of programmes more on what the Government should do regarding the Right to Food Act while reiterating the importance of fact-checking in writing and reporting food security related stories. He also urged media personnel not to build their relationships with anyone including government officials on money as that would hamper their career growth and development as well as their ability to tell impactful stories that are void of undue influences.
The media training also featured a panel discussion moderated by Mojeed Abdulkareem, business and environment correspondent at Premium Times, which was centred on “Challenges & Opportunities in Reporting on Food Security/Writing and Broadcasting Stories on Food Security.” The panelists drawn from TV, radio and print media equally looked also at “Crafting compelling narratives and how to pitch food security-related stories” to editors and other organisations. The panelists were Rita Ene Okwanihe (news editor and producer at VON), Kunle Adeniyi (broadcaster and producer at Kiss FM), Ponsah Fanap (radio presenter, Jay FM, Jos) and Nicholas Adeniyi (project officer, climate cghange, at Centre for Journalism Innovation & Development, CJID, Abuja).
Mr. Terungwa David appreciated everyone who attended the training and made it a huge success while reiterating the need to “Develop a Media Advocacy Plan” on strategies for sustained media coverage on food security as well as creating an action plan for a follow-up stories and investigations going forward wherein the newsmen generously expressed their perspectives.
