The recent horrific bloodletting in Benue State is a dagger pointed directly at the heart of Nigeria’s food security and, by extension, the survival of its citizens. The unfortunate development in Yelwata, an agrarian community and other rural communities in the middle belt, where hundreds of innocent lives, mostly farmers, were brutally killed, exposes a disregard for the very hands that feed our nation.
This is not just about human tragedy; it is about the deliberate strangulation of the country’s agricultural potential, which increases the number of Nigerians who go to bed daily without meals.
Benue, rightly dubbed the “Food Basket of the Nation,” is a vital artery in Nigeria’s food supply chain. Its fertile lands, once teeming with yam, rice, cassava, and various grains, are now battlegrounds. Farmers, terrified for their lives, are abandoning their fields, fleeing to internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, their livelihoods shattered and their productivity brought to a screeching halt.
But no nation can feed itself with its farmers in IDP camps, who even yesterday took to the streets of Makurdi to protest starvation in the camp. Again, no economy can grow on the back of blood-soaked soil.
President Bola Tinubu has since visited the State, with a vow to convert the tragedy, which claimed over 200 lives and has persisted for years, into prosperity for the people. The president also promised to invest in the peace of the State.
“Let us meet again in Abuja. Let’s fashion out a framework for lasting peace. I am ready to invest in that peace. I assure you, we will find peace. We will convert this tragedy into prosperity,” the President told Governor Hyacinth Alia, at a town hall meeting at the Benue State Government House banquet hall in Makurdi, the capital city.
Tinubu stated that the peace effort would yield sustainable results only if it is broad-based and collaborative, calling for synergy with neighbouring States.
Regrettably, beyond Plateau and Benue, hardly any day passes without news headlines featuring stories of gory mass murders and senseless killings. Available data compiled from media reports by the HumAngle Tracker, showed that no fewer than 1,420 people were killed and 537 others kidnapped in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025. All these pose threats to food security as they partly displace farming communities, destroy agricultural infrastructure, disrupt supply chains, and create an environment of fear that discourages cultivation, investment, and rural development.
The latest edition of the World Bank’s Food Security Update Report, released recently, showed that Nigeria is facing a worsening food security crisis, which calls for urgent government and private sector intervention. The report showed that more than one million additional people in Nigeria are experiencing severe food insecurity this year, compared to the previous year, adding that Nigeria, alongside Ethiopia and Yemen, witnessed a significant rise in the number of people facing acute food shortages.
“In Nigeria, an estimated 1.6 million hectares of land have been inundated by floods, including 342,650 hectares of cropland, affecting 685,770 vulnerable individuals,” it stated, noting the impact of flooding in north-eastern Nigeria.
Another threat to food security in Nigeria is climate change. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall patterns, and extreme weather events such as floods and droughts are disrupting traditional farming practices and reducing crop yields. This also leads to increased food prices. For instance, Niger State has been prone to flooding in recent times. In April, water released from one of the dams destroyed more than 5,000 farms in 30 communities, including in Mokwa. That was the sixth flood in the State this year.
There are even concerns that floodwaters are to continue rising further as rivers swell and dams approach their maximum capacity, further threatening communities across Northern Nigeria.
Reports indicate that in the coming days, the country will record an escalation of floods, which also has the potential to increase hunger and push vulnerable communities deeper into poverty. Already, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has warned of imminent risk of flooding in 12 States. NEMA’s Director General, Zubaida Umar, said this is expected to significantly affect socio-economic sectors, including disaster management, health, agriculture, transportation, water supply, education, security, and the environment.
Therefore, in order to address these threats and ensure food security for its growing population, Nigeria needs to strengthen security to protect farmers and their land from violent attacks.
With the President’s order to the security chiefs to end the killings, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Department of State Services (DSS) must rise to the occasion and increase the gathering of actionable intelligence to prevent further attacks.
Halting the killings, which is necessary to restore confidence, also requires a robust deployment of security forces to protect communities and apprehend perpetrators, regardless of their affiliations. The government must demonstrate unwavering commitment, political courage, and a genuine resolve to protect its citizens and their livelihoods. Anything less is an abdication of its most fundamental responsibility, and the consequences will be borne by us all in the form of widespread hunger, instability, and a nation unable to feed itself.
Equally, the unrestricted and uncontrolled possession and use of arms in the country is worrisome. A situation whereby herdsmen and other non-state actors move freely with AK-47 is a joke taken too far, as a gun in the wrong hands is only a few seconds away from killing. The federal government must do all within its reach to immediately address the arms race going on in the country.
There is also a need to ensure that the laws against open grazing are enforced. The federal and State governments must collaborate to implement a well-defined and adequately funded ranching policy, providing incentives and support for herders to adopt modern, sedentary livestock farming practices.
Another factor responsible for the killings is a lack of political will. Political leaders should be bold enough to address social injustices in the land. Perpetrators of violence should be brought to justice.
The call for the creation of State Police must also be looked into. Additionally, agricultural development programmes to provide support to farmers to help boost food security should be introduced. For instance, an initiative such as the now suspended Anchor Borrowers Programme needs to be revisited to help create a linkage between anchor companies involved in the processing and smallholder farmers of the required key agricultural commodities; stabilise input supply to agro processors and address the country’s negative balance of payments on food.
The killings in Benue are not just a humanitarian tragedy—they are an economic threat. If this violence persists, Nigeria will not only lose lives but lose its ability to feed itself. And history will not be kind to those who looked away when the fields turned red.
Credit:This Day