“No sane society will survive on a sustainable level on the basis of what it is able to eat. Investing capital in food rather than food production is akin to feeding fast food and junk on a diabetic patient”
AKWA IBOM BULK PURCHASE AGENCY IS POVERTY PROMOTION BY OTHER MEANS
At about 2:25am, I finally listened to the clips of a radio programme where the cerebral Aima Akpan featured as guest. For once, I felt she had a peek into the inner chambers of my thinking faculty. How could she have read and spoken my mind so eloquently? That said, I’ll try to give a fuller version of my view on a sector of our local economy.
With the benefit of hindsight, the Akwa Ibom Bulk Purchasing Agency initiative which (according to Governor Umo Eno) is akin to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (1882-1945) “new deal” is counter-productive and will entrench a policy of consumption rather than production this leading to sustained hunger. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd President of the United States of America (USA). On the heels of the great depression he initiated the tripod-pronged “new deal”.
No sane society will survive on a sustainable level on the basis of what it is able to eat. Investing capital in food rather than food production is akin to feeding fast food and junk on a diabetic patient.
We must have a rethink and redirect our policies towards food/crop production.
Admittedly, Governor Umo Eno’s reason for establishing the Agency is “nice” and empathetic. By the way, Governor Umo Eno has since assumption of office devised very soft ways of simplifying and demystifying governance, making it people-centric.
But governance is beyond the gift of a heart of gold, it is an admix of hard decisions with an altruistic intent.
Economically, the Bulk Purchasing Agency idea is unsustainable and fails to address critical and long-terms issues of food insufficiency and hunger in the land.
Policies of this nature must be formulated and implemented with logic and an appreciation of the reality on ground rather than on sentiment and emotions. The Bill Purchasing Agency as presently constituted cannot reach it’s targeted demographic. It stands the risk of entrenching a vicious cycle of selling food at a subsidized price to people who will resell at a higher rate. So long as more mouths chase few plates or rations of food, the temptation for profiteering cannot be curtailed. Truth is, every and any hungry man prefers money in his pocket rather than food in his house.
The only way to attain food sufficiency is to grow what we eat and not buy or subsidize what we consume.
How do we return to grow-to-consume and grow-to-earn? Government must emphasize (in practical terms) its decision to encourage farming. It must do so through deliberate and elaborate methods. We must return to the creation and use of Agric Extension officers from the Ministry of Agriculture. We must set targets for political appointees (Local Government Council Chairmen and the horde of idle PAs & SAs to the Governor). The mere act of engaging in such large scale appointment of Aides reinforces our view that an impecunious man needs money rather than food, hence we have chosen to pay people monthly for doing absolutely nothing (with no clearly defined job description.
These category of salary earners must be shown the way to farms and mandated with targets for crop production across all LGAs of the State.
Any State that elevates “happy hour” or woñ-dia-ta (drink, eat and chew) to a policy of State is unserious and is merely laying the foundations for famine.
Obongifiok Imo Akpan, Esq is a lawyer and commentator on contemporary issues.