The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has declared a three-day fasting and prayer exercise in response to Nigeria’s food security crisis.
The ministry, in an internal circular seen by the Cable, directed its staff to observe fasting on June 16, 23, and 30, 2025, as well as “solemn prayer session for God’s guidance” to confront the country’s growing challenges around food affordability and supply.
In the circular dated June 11, 2025, and signed by the Director of Human Resource Management, Mrs. Adedayo Modupe, the ministry scheduled the 30-minute prayer sessions to begin by 12:00 p.m. at Conference Hall B of ministry’s headquarters in Area 11, Abuja.
With reference number AGR.12/S.27/1091/1/12, the notice was addressed to all Directors, Deputy Directors, Assistant Directors, Value Chain Desk Officers, as well as ministry staff.
Modupe wrote, “This is to invite all Staff of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to a solemn prayer session for God’s guidance and success in supporting the Government’s efforts to achieve food security.
“Theme: Divine Intervention for Protection and National Development .
“Please kindly come fasting on Mondays 16th, 23rd and 30th June 2025.”
However, when newsmen contacted the ministry’s Acting Director of Information, Ezeaja Ikemefuna, on Friday night, he confirmed that the exercise had been suspended indefinitely.
In a follow-up memo, the ministry announced an indefinite postponement of the programme without disclosing the reason for the decision.
“I am directed to inform all staff that the prayer sessions scheduled to commence on Monday have been postponed till further notice.
“All staff should kindly take note,” it read.
With a projected 33.1 million Nigerians facing food insecurity by 2025, the World Food Programme (WFP) had recently called on the government to address insecurity in the Northeast to enable farmers return to their farms.
According to WFP, the number of people experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity in Nigeria is projected to rise from one million in the 2024 to 1.8 million in 2025, marking an 80 percent increase.
It said, “Nationally, the number of people facing emergency levels (Phase 4) of food insecurity is projected to rise. Although no populations are classified as Catastrophe (Phase 5), those in Emergency (Phase 4) are expected to increase from one million in the peak of the 2024 lean season to 1.8 million in 2025—a significant 80 percent rise.”
“Trend analyses for the northeastern states indicate consistently high or rising food insecurity levels since 2018. The number of people requiring urgent assistance has increased by at least 4 million annually during the lean season since June 2020.”
WFP Country Director David Stevenson said the hunger crisis, exacerbated by conflict in the Northeast, requires urgent intervention.
He said, “Restoring peace in the northeast is critical for us to build pathways to production and achieve the northeast’s potential as the food basket of the country.”
The report noted that “Approximately 5.4 million children and nearly 800,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are at risk of acute malnutrition or wasting in six of the most affected states.”
The states most impacted include Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe in the Northeast, and Sokoto, Katsina, and Zamfara in the Northwest.
Of the 5.4 million child food crisis, the report noted that, “1.8 million children could face Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and require critical nutrition treatment.”
Addressing this crisis, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Country Representative Ms. Cristian Munduate stressed that a slow response to the data is a “call to death.”
She said, “Children are at the centre of the food insecurity crisis and face irreversible consequences – both physical and cognitive, and potentially even death. It is our moral imperative to ensure that the right of every child to adequate food and nutrition is upheld.”
The FAO Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Dominique Koffy Kouacou said, “FAO, alongside our partners, is committed to implementing sustainable solutions that address the underlying causes of food insecurity and malnutrition. By improving agri-food systems, we aim to meet immediate needs while building lasting progress.”
The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), Temitope Fashedemi, had pledged to use the report’s findings to guide food and nutrition security interventions across federal agencies, humanitarian organizations, and other partners in Nigeria.