A group known as Journalists Against Disaster Initiative has warned the Federal Government and the frontline Northern states to put in place measures to contain any locusts invasion.
It said the warning is predicated on an alert by the Food and Agricultural Organisation that swarms of adult locusts are currently forming in Chad and are about to form in Mali and Niger to spread in West Africa.
JADI, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Sanya Adejokun, drew the attention of the Federal Government and the states to take proactive measures to stem the menace.
Adejokun said that government must act fast to stop attack on crops by the locust so as not to add to the damage that flooding has already done to food production.
FAO Senior Locust Forecasting Officer, Keith Cressman, has alerted that adult locusts about to spread out could damage pastures and subsistence rain-fed crops, adding that they could also pose a threat to harvests in Chad, Mali and Niger.
Cressman noted that tens of millions of locusts, are currently forming in Chad, and are poised to form in Mali and Niger.
Swarms can fly up to 150 kilometres a day with wind, while a single desert locust adult can daily consume roughly its own weight of about two grams in fresh food. Even a very small swarm can devour enough crops in a day to feed about 35,000 people, according to FAO.
Adesanya stated that though the FAO official is not categorical on Nigeria, however there is the need for the Northern states to take precaution as their area may likely become a destination for these dangerous pests.
He said: “FAO has already alerted Algeria, Libya, Mauritania and Morocco to prepare for the likely arrival of locust swarms from the Sahel in West Africa in the coming weeks.”
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