As fears of becoming the epicentre of COVID-19 in Europe mounts, British authorities may have an even bigger conundrum; an impending hunger crisis.
With over 10,000 deaths and nearly 85,000 confirmed cases, the United Kingdom is rapidly edging towards the dreaded company of Italy and Spain – two countries worst hit by the pandemic in Europe. According to a Bombshell chart, Britain could soon be in that neighbourhood, especially as its peak days are ahead.
While it hopes to avoid this forbidden territory with all mechanism put in place, another danger looms – a food crisis. Millions reportedly go to bed without meals.
Barely a month into the lockdown, the Food Foundation said that 1.5 million Britons reported not eating for a whole day because they had no money or access to food. That means almost 2.5 percent of the UK population is starving. If not more.
Some three million people in total were in households where someone had been forced to skip some meals. More than one million people reported losing all their income because of the pandemic, with over a third of them believing they would not be entitled to any government help.
The foundation’s findings are based on a YouGov poll carried out across England, Scotland and Wales last week. Its director, Anna Taylor, said the crisis was too big to be left to food banks and local authorities without funding. “This needs urgent and substantial investment from central government which needs to put money directly into the pockets of families who can’t afford food.”
Charities running food banks are also struggling to cope with a huge rise in people coming to them for emergency parcels. Sabine Goodwin, coordinator of the Independent Food Aid Network, said she feared the government was being too slow to respond and the situation was “spiralling out of control”. She said: “Food banks in our network are seeing as much as a 300% increase in footfall compared to this time last year but are still struggling to source enough appropriate food.
“Our food bank could run out of stock before the coronavirus lockdown ends,” local authorities said
In Liverpool, for example, there has been a 150% increase in emergency grants from the council to people who have no food or money for electricity since the lockdown.
The city has a highly developed network of food banks and food distribution charities which have increased their operations rapidly in the last few weeks.
FareShare, the nationwide distributor of surplus food, is now open longer hours in Liverpool – from 7am to 10pm – and has distributed £380,000 worth of goods to families in need in the last five days.
Football fans supporting food banks have also raised £150,000 to buy more stock but the city’s assistant mayor, Jane Corbett, said families were being hit by “the double whammy of austerity and Covid-19” and charity was not enough on its own.
She warned that the local authority could not pay for the impact of the pandemic without funding from government. “The fragility of our current social security system is now being seen in stark relief; extreme pressure on food banks is just one clear example. Our budget has been cut by 63% since 2013.”
UK’s current situation paints a potentially monstrous picture of Africa, particularly Nigeria. The West African nation is more than thrice the population of the UK. Unlike the Queen country, though, Nigeria is dominated by the young and unemployed.
Recent criminal activities around Lagos and Ogun States may have given a glimpse of what to expect with President Muhammadu Buhari almost certain to extend the lockdown orders on Monday. The harsh economic effect could get worst.
There have been overwhelming complaints by residents of Owode, Ilepa, Ifo, Arigbajo, Itori, Dalemo, Ijoko, Ogba Ayo, Mosa, Joju, Sango, Ota, Oniyale among other communities in Ifo and Ado-Odo Ota local government areas of Ogun over how hoodlums have been dispossessing them of their valuables day and night.
The nightmare stretched to Lagos on Sunday, around Agege. There was even a scenario where hoodlums attacked a moving car loaded with food stuff. Although hundreds of persons have been arrested, more of such could be ahead.
Perhaps a justification for the Federal Government is the UK; if it could suffer food crisis, Nigerians should be ready to bear the brunt.
