Violence, Politics, and Food Insecurity in Nigeria

Abstract

This chapter explores how violence and politics affect food security in Nigeria against the backdrop of existential oil, cult, herdsmen versus farmers conflict and Boko Haram insurgency. It examines the contribution of politics and violence in the rising rate of food insecurity in parts of Nigeria. When villagers run away from the violence of cult groups, herdsmen and farmers clashes, and the terror of Boko Haram, the impact on availability and affordability of food requires more accountability. So is the link between oil violence and food insecurity, considering how the industry, through pollution, has considerably reduced cultivable land and fishing in the Niger Delta. Relying on secondary and primary data, the chapter argues that a complex mesh of illegal political relationships and considerations in frequent cases of non-state and criminal armed violence is fast reducing men and women labor in peasant agriculture, such that availability and affordability of food have become threatened.