Food crisis rampant in Lagos, Kano, Rivers, Abuja –NBS

The coronavirus outbreak has worsened food crisis in Lagos, Kano,
Rivers and Abuja, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

The Organisation stated this in a report titled: ‘The Impact of
COVID-19 in Kano, Lagos, Rivers, and FCT Abuja, obtained from its
website on Monday.

The study, which is the latest commentary on households’ response to
the coronavirus crisis in the key states of Kano, Lagos, Rivers and
Abuja and which can be benchmarked against pre-pandemic data from the
2018/2019 Nigerian Living Standard Survey, was conducted in
collaboration with the World Bank Poverty Team.

“Food insecurity appears to be prevalent across all four states, but
especially in Rivers and FCT Abuja where 79 per cent of households and
72 per cent of households respectively reported having to skip meals
since the start of the pandemic.

“Households in all four states are drawing down their savings and
borrowing money to cover their living expenses, which may leave them
more economically vulnerable and reduce their investments in human
capital in the future,” the NBS said.

The report, which also contains the results of the second quarter 2020
Labour Force Survey, observes that the proportion of people involved
in economic activities in the 3 states and the FCT was lower in
June/July 2020 than before the outbreak. The FCT was the worst hit,
with the share of people working down by 14 percentage points.

“Even if some people have resumed work, incomes may still be
precarious, with larger shares of workers in Kano and Rivers engaged
in agriculture and a smaller share of workers in Lagos engaged in
industry than before the COVID-19 crisis,” the NBS said.

It stated that the Q2 Labour Force Survey was collated from 17th June
to 8th July.

“Households in all four states are drawing down their savings and
borrowing money to cover their living expenses, which may leave them
more economically vulnerable and reduce their investments in human
capital in the future.

“More than 1 in 5 households in Kano and FCT Abuja and more than 1 in
10 households in Lagos and Rivers reported violating containment
measures in order to maintain a living, emphasizing the trade-offs
households face between earning incomes and protecting their health,”
it added.