Violent Conflicts as Major Driver of Food Insecurity in Nigeria
Abstract
Perhaps the biggest problem in many African countries today is violent conflict. Although its impact can be felt in every aspect of society, in this work we demonstrate emphatically that chronic hunger stands out as the major consequence of perennial conflict in the continent, especially in Nigeria. We establish that there is a strong correlation between escalating violence and extreme hunger. This is urgent because many anti-hunger programmes overlook that hunger is a symptom of a more insidious problem: conflict. Although there are literatures on hunger and crisis, not many studies convincingly link these two phenomena. The insights from this work will guide actions, whether advocacy or direct interventions, to add value to the lives of the suffering in the continent, especially Nigeria. It will help policymakers, researchers, and the increasing number of humanitarian organizations tackle simultaneously the twin evils of conflict and hunger. To achieve this, we critically studied the concepts of hunger and conflict. Our understanding of these two realities laid the foundation for appreciating the vexing issue of violence-related hunger in Nigeria as a case study. By tackling violent conflicts creatively, the problem of food insecurity and actual hunger in Africa, especially Nigeria, will be highly mitigated. We adopted a qualitative approach; thus, most of the information here was generated from secondary sources related to the topic, viz., literature, books, newspapers, and internet sources. The Judeo-Christian Scripture, some important Ecclesiastical documents, and relevant International Declarations and Regional Charters helped to nourish our information.
Keywords
NigeriaViolenceConflictHungerfood insecurity
References
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