Hardship: DSS confirms looting of warehouses, food trucks in North East

 

Tamarauemi Ebimini

 

The Department of State Services Friday put to rest speculations and reports doing the rounds on looting of warehouses and food trucks in the North-East as a result of the food crisis which has led to widespread hunger across the country.

 

A rise in cost of living as a result of a soaring inflation rate to about 29.90 per cent in January, and a skyrocketing foreign exchange rate to about N1,594/$1 as of 10:53 am Friday, has thrown the country into an economic crisis it has yet to recover from.

 

Chairman of the North-East forum of the DSS, Babagana Bulama, while speaking at the 15th conference of the North-East directors of the state services at Damaturu, Yobe State, said the rising prices of goods has motivated hoodlums to take advantage of the crisis to attack warehouses, and vehicles with goods, particularly foodstuff being transported from one state to the other.

 

He said; “This edition is taking place at a time when the insecurity of the nation bothers on criminality, especially the trace of Boko Haram insurgency, banditry and kidnapping which have been on the forefront, now overtaken by social securities issues comprising of food crisis, to hoarding of foodstuff, hunger in the land, starvation and renewed threats of protests by organised labour groups such as the Nigerian Labour Congress, and others.

 

“Similarly, the rising prices of goods have motivated hoodlums to take advantage of the challenges to attack warehouses, and vehicles with goods, particularly food stuff being transported from one state to the other. The situation is also being exploited by economic saboteurs who are bent on destroying the economy. It is pertinent to mention that all this is happening barely a year after the 2023 general election.”