The Federal government has said that accepting grains from Ukraine does not make Nigeria a failed country. LIB had reported that Ukraine donated 25,000 tons of wheat to Nigeria, in a move it says will help tackle the emergency food crisis affecting over 1.3 million people in northeast Nigeria.
Reacting to the news on Monday, Obi in a statement released said as laudable as Ukraine’s kind gesture is, it speaks volumes for us as a people endowed with all needed human and natural resources, that a country officially prosecuting a brutal war of national survival with its powerful neighbour, Russia, is generous and kind enough with their food supplies to help us who are officially at peace. He stressed that while Ukraine is still feeding itself despite battling a war, Nigeria which is at peace cannot because of bad leaders. Read here.
Reacting to Obi’s comment, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, argued that Nigeria receiving food aid from Ukraine does not in any way signify that Nigeria is a failed state.
Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday, March 6, the Minister said;
‘’Egypt gets about 60 per cent of its grains from Ukraine. The fact that Egypt gets about 60 per cent of its grains from Ukraine does not make it a failed state.
The fact that we are having challenges at the moment does not make Nigeria a failed state.
Therefore, accepting grains from Ukraine does not make Nigeria or Egypt a failed country.
“It is a normal thing because countries exist to depend on one another.’’