Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has called on the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitutional Review to reinstate the clause on the ‘right to food’ which was reportedly deleted in the 1999 Constitution’s amendment Bill.

Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey, who made this call in a Press Statement signed by the organization’s Media and Communications Lead, Kome Odhomor, and made available to newsmen on Monday, February 21, 2022, expressed disappointment at the move, noting that “the right to adequate food is a long-standing fundamental human right, universally accepted for years and thus should not be cherry-picked by our legislators”.

Bassey asserted that “to remove the clause from the Bill is to reinforce the lack of regard for the people and keep an open door for the purveyors of risky technologies such as genetic modification and gene editing in Agriculture, as well as policies designed against the small holder farmers who are the pillar of Agriculture in the country”.

The amendment Bill which has been pending before the two chambers of the National Assembly seeks to introduce the words ‘right to food and ‘food security’ in chapters two and four, respectively, with the aim to “address the failure of agricultural policies to ensure food security in Nigeria; given the philosophical context that there can be no food security without the right to food”.

Unconfirmed reports have it that the Senate and House of Representatives Committee who are currently reviewing the Constitution rejected the clause on the ‘right to food’ based on the premise that passing the Bill with the clause on the ‘right to food’ as proposed could put more financial burden on the government. The clause was also rejected on the ground that it “could be misinterpreted by citizens and might lead to damaging consequences.”

According to the Coordinator, Food Sovereignty Programme at Friends of the Earth Nigeria/Africa, Mariann Orovwuje, a recognition of the right to food in the Constitution will ensure accountability, transparency, better governance and policies to provide a thriving environment for optimum food productivity.

She stressed that the right to food, which is recognized in many international treaties and conventions including the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Resolution23 on Food Security 1998 and the African Charter on Human Right 1986, is anchored on human rights.

“Nigeria is signatory to these instruments and thus needs to strengthen the legal framework for the realization of the right to food in the country including by strengthening people’s access to and use of resources and informing the public about their human rights; strengthening their ability to participate in development processes and decision making.”

HOMEF’s Programme Manager and Project Lead on Hunger Politics, Joyce Brown, noted that for the nation to address the problem of hunger, having the ‘right to food’ enshrined in the constitution is an expedient first step. “It will engender policy coherence and effectiveness such that the actual needs of the people are addressed from a fundamental rights approach.”

In conclusion, HOMEF the ecological think tank noted that “the ‘right to food’ is a key component of food sovereignty which beyond food security sees to the right of food producers at every level along the food chain to be in control of what they produce and how. Food sovereignty not only ensures access to food but makes sure that the food is healthy, nutritious and culturally appropriate; that the food is produced with ecologically sound means. This is the future of food and farming. It is the direction we must go.”

HOMEF stressed that the right to adequate and safe food is a fundamental human right and law makers should not legislate against this right in the constitution amendment process. To do otherwise sends the signal that the lawmakers wish to set Nigerians on the pathway of starvation and neglect.