Peter Obi, former presidential candidate of the Labour Party has lamented over the deaths of students of Nasarawa State University, who died on Friday following a stampede that at the sharing of palliatives.
Three students were stampeded to death during the ensuing confusion when they went to collect food.
Obi said such avoidable deaths have become a common recurrence and attributes it to bad leadership.
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While saying he’s “disheartened by the reports of the deaths”, Obi reminded that not quite long ago, about seven Nigerians, in a similar sad situation, lost their lives while trying to “buy rice cheaper from a customs warehouse in Lagos.”
He further lamented that, “The very worsening level of hunger in our nation has continued to claim the lives of innocent citizens.”
While referencing the report by the UNICEF few weeks ago, that indicated that about 31.5 million Nigerians will face acute hunger and severe food crisis between June and August in 2024, Obi said it’s unfortunate that, “This is happening in a country that is richly blessed in human and natural resources, with vast arable lands for agriculture.
“Nigeria should have no business with hunger and poverty if we the leaders were caring enough. It is unimaginable how we have sadly descended to a level where people now take unthinkable risks in order to survive.
“Now again, our children who were sent to study in a university, challenged by hunger, have lost their lives because of our national unproductivity.
“I do hope that these ugly incidents will nudge our government into taking urgent measures to end the current food insecurity, by moving the nation from consumption to production.
“We cannot be accepting food aid from war-torn Ukraine, when we have the energetic population and vast uncultivated lands to feed our nation and the rest of Africa.
“Time has come for Nigerians to unite in purpose and solve the challenges facing us. Hunger, as I have maintained, knows no tribe or religion.
“I commiserate with the bereaved families of the deceased students, the entire Nasarawa State University and the government of Nasarawa State over this painful incident.
“May God give all of us the fortitude to bear this loss and grant them eternal rest.”