Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Nentawe Yilwatda, has blamed poor organisation for the food queue stampedes recorded in parts of Nigeria during the 2024 Yuletide season.
Yilwatda, who was a guest on Channels Television’s 2024 Year-End Review, said food queue stampedes were not only limited to Nigeria but have been recorded in advanced parts of the world like the United States.
“Stampedes have taken place in more developed countries than Nigeria,” the minister said.
“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 were recorded in Oyo, Anambra and Nigeria’s capital city Abuja. About 70 lives were lost in the unfortunate incidents which many have blamed on hunger and the high cost of food. The private organisers of the food distribution programmes have been detained by the police.
The humanitarian minister boasted that the Federal Government is the biggest distributor of relief materials to the poorest of the poor in Nigeria. He said the government distributes relief materials more than private individuals yet no stampede has been experienced in government programmes.
Yilwatda encouraged private persons willing to donate relief items to Nigerians to get the proper organisation right and seek the ministry’s help.
