For families already starving, the relentless violence is a second scourge. Last week, bandits ambushed farmers returning from Maga Market in Bukkuyyum LGA, killing five. The victims were likely hauling meager harvests—now looted by attackers—to sell for a day’s food. In Gwargwaba village, where four were burned alive in January, survivors whispered of grain stores turned to ash, leaving children to sleep hungry.
Protesters’ placards in Gusau last July laid bare the despair: “We flee bandits by day, starve by night.” Over 30 communities listed villages like Mada and Bangi as both killing fields and food deserts. With farming abandoned, stolen crops and empty markets have pushed prices beyond reach. A sack of maize now costs a week’s wages—if work exists at all.
Yet while graves multiply, the state’s priorities stagger. After spending ₦13 billion on official vehicles in 2024, Zamfara plans another ₦2.5 billion for luxury cars next year. For mothers boiling leaves to fill babies’ bellies, the math is obscene: one cemetery budget could buy 20 million meals.
