The Former Deputy Governor of CBN and the Director, Center For Policy and Economic Research, Obadiah Malafia, has stated reasons why Nigeria is battling with inflation and increased cost of food prices attributing it Fulani-Herdsmen violent clashes, among other factors.
Speaking on Channels Television Breakfast Programme, Sunrise Daily, Malafia said the herdsmen-farmers violent clashes including rural bandit attacks has created insecurity and fright amidst rural farmers thereby impeding farming activities and reducing farming productivity.
The former CBN deputy governor said, these violent clashes has instilled fear in the heart of rural farmers who now prefer farming at areas near their homes than going to the interior farms far from their homes.
“Another factor is the herdsmen farmers clashes. It has subsided a little bit, even though several weeks ago, we had a horrible, horrific massacre of Fulanis that took place in Taraba State. Some insist it was a reprisal for what they have done in the past but from whatever source, that kind of violence is very disruptive.”
The damaging consequence of these violent attacks is sadly on the increase as Malafia pointed out that it has not received adequate government’s attention. Farmers productivity is continuously disrupted and subsequently the nation’s economic is affected.
“It destroys the social capital of the community, it destroys local productivity. In a lot of areas in the Middle Belt, farmers restrict their farming activities to areas near their home. But, the most productive farmland are in the interior, people have to go several kilometers to where the real farmlands are. People are no longer going there (the interior farms) because they are very frightened of the killings by the rural bandits and we haven’t really addressed it.”
Food scarcity according to Malafia is also caused by planting season. “The planting season is normally, March-April. So, until the crops are ready for the market, that is the peak of scarcity and high cost of food price. Generally, in Nigeria by late September up to December, food tends to be in abundance because there is a lot of harvest going on.”
The increasing rate of exchange rates is another factor Malafia identified as one of the factors contributing to inflation, stating that the farming inputs including tractors, fertilizers are imported and these are additional costs.
Revealing the monstrous effects of inflation on Nigeria economy, he said, “Having inflation rate hovering over at 16% is still extremely high. We need to wrestle down this monster to single digit and to less than 10% because when we do that, we reduce poverty.
“Inflation is a task on the poor and it discourages investments. So, for growth and a stable market economy to prevail, we need to be able to bring down inflation.”
