Abstract

The adverse effect of food crisis, climate change and intractable conflict are serious contending issues in Nigeria today which have grown to undermine her socio-economic development. The situation has also worsened by the government’s inability to provide security and ensure the enforcement of law and order. A society that would develop needsa peaceful and effective governmental policy to chart the course of transformation and development. Consequently the paper argued that until there is a deliberate effort and the political will on the part of government and the leadership of Nigeria to nip in the bud, address the shortage of food and escalating prices of food stuffs, curtail the spate of violence and conflict, socio- economic development would be a mirage. The objective of this paper therefore is to determine the extent to which government could address food crises by
The paper adopted the descriptive research method and relied extensively on secondary sources of information. Therefore information gathered were content analysed and inferences drawn to arrive at our conclusion. The paper is anchored on the theory of need and relative deprivation which showed the relationship between need, deprivation and consequent violent crises in the society.
The paper found out that inflation is on the increase, conflicts amongst citizens are lingering while prices of food stuffs keep on increasing. The weather is changing while the rains are not coming as expected. When it rains lots of damages are inflicted on farms and crops because of heavy storms. The open and uncontrolled grazing of animals had taken their tolls coupled with killings and displacement of farming communities. The paper also found out that most of governments’ initiatives to provide law and order and resolve problems created have been scrappy and as a result non lasting.
The paper recommended that the various institutions of governments be strengthened with more empowerment financially to rise to the occasion to act decisively in various areas of environmental protection, technical assistance and peace building efforts where necessary to facilitate development.