Russia-Ukraine Conflict: VP Osinbajo Advises African Nations To Prioritize Food Production

Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo said that the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine should be considered as a hint for states in Africa to become independent when it comes to food production.

"The economic fallout of the war for us in Africa should be an introspective moment on the issue of self-sufficiency in food production," Osinbajo said during a speech delivered at African Leadership Centre, King's College in London, TheCable reported.

Laolu Akande, who serves as Osinbajo's Senior Special Assistant, shared this speech in the media on Tuesday in a statement, titled "How Africa can prosper in an increasingly complex world, by Osinbajo."

Osinbajo explained during his speech that today's major problem in Africa is "encroachment by franchises of global terror groups," although he praised African countries for acting "vigorously to tackle these terrorist groups."

However, the 66-year-old vice president noted that there is still "much more that can be done especially in partnership with the rest of the international community."

The vice president reminded the large audience of students, scholars, faculty, and researchers that according to the 2022 Global Terrorism Index, the Sahel has become home to 'the world's fastest-growing and most deadly terrorist groups' and Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 48 percent of global terrorism deaths, noting that the Sahel seems to have hit badly because of terrorism.

Osinbajo further shared that the Sahel has "half a million internally displaced persons, 1.8 million people facing food insecurity, and 5.1 million people needing humanitarian assistance," sharing that the "threat of terrorism anywhere on earth is a threat to the whole of humanity."

He further urged the global community to consider Sahel's terrorism as a "common challenge."

Osinbajo also mentioned how the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict is impacting many African countries, considering they are heavily dependent on Russia and Ukraine for food and oil.

The conflict between the two countries began in February 2022 and since then, the oil and wheat prices were increased drastically. While the international price of oil was $70 per barrel in 2021, it increased to $100 last year.

He said, "These price shocks and disruption of supply chains of various commodities across Africa led to high inflation at a time when most countries were struggling to overcome the economic and social fallouts of the COVID-19 pandemic especially debt and foreign currency crises."

"The situation was relieved somewhat by the deal that was brokered to enable the export of Ukrainian wheat," the vice president added.

Osinbajo said Nigeria is in a "process of working out a grain supply from Russia," which is coordinated by the World Food Programme, revealing that they have "recently accepted to provide port space in Port Harcourt, Nigeria for the distribution of grain from Ukraine to other west African countries."