Peter Obi Criticizes Ukraine’s Food Donation to Nigeria as National Disgrace

Ukraine made a generous donation of 25,000 tonnes of wheat as emergency food assistance to 1.3 million vulnerable, crisis-affected people in Nigeria’s northeast.

The donation is part of Ukraine’s humanitarian “Grain from Ukraine” initiative launched by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

However, Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, has criticized the food donation as a national disgrace.

He expressed his gratitude to Ukraine for helping Nigeria in the fight against hunger despite its political situation but pointed out that Nigeria, once economically confident and blessed with vast arable land and abundant natural resources, now relies on a war-torn Ukraine for food assistance.

Obi called the situation a national disgrace and attributed it to years of leadership failure.

He highlighted the fact that Ukraine, with a smaller population and land mass, has a higher GDP per capita and is a strategic global food supplier, even providing aid to Nigeria.

The former Governor of Anambra State emphasized the need for the Nigerian government to invest aggressively in agriculture and address insecurity, which would enable farmers to return to their fields.

This, according to him, would reverse the current economic downturn and bring about productivity within four or five years.

While Ukraine’s food donation is a generous gesture that demonstrates shared humanity, Peter Obi’s criticism sheds light on the need for Nigeria to address its own economic issues and make better use of its natural resources to become self-sufficient in food production.