Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, has expressed deep concern over the tragic incident that occurred at the Zonal Office of the Nigerian Customs Service in Yaba, Lagos. In a statement posted on X, Obi addressed the recent stampede that resulted in the loss of lives as Nigerians sought to purchase discounted 25kg bags of rice.

Obi highlighted the distressing levels of hardship, hunger, and starvation prevalent in the country, emphasizing that the national economy is facing one of its most challenging periods. He noted that the population classified as multi-dimensionally poor has increased significantly, surpassing 80% of the population. He criticized the government’s allocation of resources, stating that significant amounts have been spent on unnecessary projects while attention to the living conditions of ordinary citizens has been lacking.

In his statement, Obi pointed out that the food inflation rate in Nigeria is at an all-time high, at over 35 per cent. He also noted that unemployment is a big problem, and for a predominantly youthful population, this scenario is dire and frighteningly dangerous. He described how, for the first time in Nigeria’s peacetime history, stark, undisguised hunger has become a national epidemic, with hundreds of thousands of people driven into open protests over food scarcity and unaffordability. The hunger protests have united people across ethnicity, language, region, faith, and location.

Obi expressed his dismay that, in all Nigeria’s adversity, the leaders have resorted to spending stupendous amounts of resources on wasteful items like ordering expensive renovations of offices and residences that are already in luxurious conditions. He pointed out that the government has spent more money on car parks for politicians than for the running of half of the teaching hospitals. In all this, there has been scanty attention to the living conditions of the ordinary people they were elected to care for.

Obi concluded by saying that the huge amounts of borrowed resources that should have been channeled into production, especially food production, to guarantee an abundant supply of food in the nation, were rather consumed on inanities, rather than invested. He said that today, Nigeria is one big nation united by hunger and starvation, to the point of dying to make ends meet.