Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Nentawe Yilwatda, has attributed the food queue stampedes recorded during Nigeria’s 2024 Yuletide season to poor organization.
Speaking on Channels Television’s 2024 Year-End Review, Yilwatda drew parallels between the incidents in Nigeria and similar occurrences in advanced countries.
“Stampedes have taken place in more developed countries than Nigeria,” the minister stated. “If you recall, Hurricane Katrina in the US, when they had food distribution because of poor organisation, they had stampede. Also, in the school food distribution in Texas, in the US, the same thing happened. It has happened in several countries that are more developed than Nigeria where you have poor organisation.”
In December 2024, three major food queue stampedes occurred in Oyo, Anambra, and Abuja, resulting in approximately 70 fatalities. Many have linked the tragedies to widespread hunger and the soaring cost of food. Authorities have detained the private organizers behind these food distribution efforts.
Yilwatda emphasized the Federal Government’s role as the largest distributor of relief materials to Nigeria’s most vulnerable populations, boasting that no government-run relief programs have experienced similar issues.
“We distribute relief materials more than private individuals yet no stampede has been experienced in government programmes,” the minister said. He urged private individuals and organizations interested in distributing relief items to collaborate with the ministry to ensure proper organization and avoid such tragedies in the future.
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