Jihadism, food crisis are undermining “reception of the gospel” in Nigeria

A leading Nigerian Catholic researcher and criminologist says insecurity, chronic over-borrowing, climate change, inflation, and corruption have pushed millions of people into hunger. And that, in turn, is making it harder for them to receive the Christian message of hope.

The World Food Organization projects that the number of food insecure people in Nigeria could jump to 33 million people, up from the 25 million who were hungry last year.

“Never before have there been so many people in Nigeria without food,” said WFP spokesperson, Chi Lael.

The country also agonizes under the weight of pervasive poverty, with the World Bank reporting that more than 100 million Nigerians are poor, seriously lacking in basic needs including food, water, healthcare, and education

Emeka Umeagbalasi, Director of the Catholic-inspired NGO, International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), told Catholic World Report that jihadist attacks have uprooted millions of people from their farmlands in several states of Nigeria’s Middle Belt, which is the food basket of the country.

“These food basket regions have been ravaged by jihadist insurgency. The Fulani jihadists have taken over a large percentage of farmlands and driven away the indigenous Christian farmers who farmed on those lands. The Fulani jihadists are not known for farming but for cattle rearing. The cattle rearing they engage in is not for the purpose of enhancing food or meat production in the country but is a cover for propagating radical Islamism,” Emeka told CWR.

“This has contributed to around 80% of the food insecurity we face today. Those who own the land can no longer produce food for Nigeria, and the little that is available is insufficient,” he said.

He said things would be different had jihadists not disrupted the productive efforts of indigenous farmers.

Emeka also said the cost-of-living crisis that resulted in street protests last year is one of the causes of the extreme hunger in the country, a situation exacerbated by the falling value of the Naira against the US dollar. This led to what the criminologist calls “a deficiency in purchasing power.”

He criticized over-borrowing and questioned the use of the borrowed money. “The borrowed money is not judiciously utilized; instead, it ends up in private pockets and contributes to a consumption-based economy. This borrowed money is used to pay workers’ salaries, allowances, and other remunerations, rather than for productive investments.”

A fourth issue is corruption. This includes diverting borrowed funds into private investments and personal account. This has been a persistent problem in the country since 2007.

The combination of these factors has bred hunger, and hunger has become an obstacle to the effective reception of the gospel. It’s an issue already raised by Catholic Bishops of the Ibadan Episcopal Conference.

“It has been almost two years now since the current administration came to power with glowing promises of a better life for all Nigerians. Regrettably, millions of Nigerians still yearn for the most basic necessities of life,” the bishops said in a statement on February 11. “Without food for the population, hope is difficult to instill and productivity is diminished because a hungry people is a restive people.”

“It is difficult,” they remarked, “to sustain hope on hungry stomachs.”

Emeka agrees. “Many people are hungry. This has severely affected the reception of the gospel of Jesus Christ,” he told CWR.

He said the lack of food has led to the growth of fake pastors and prophets promising to resolve the people’s problems through spiritual means while in fact, they prey on the peoples’ anguish.

“Many pastors and Christian leaders in Nigeria have resorted to deceit and capitalized on people’s tragedies and social inconveniences, such as hunger, to gather followers,”Emeka said.

“For example, a pastor organizing a crusade might enter the event with nothing in his pocket but emerge as an instant millionaire by selling items like olive oil, spring water, or handkerchiefs at exorbitant prices.”

Many have also resorted to internet fraud, armed robbery, and kidnappings for ransom.

Last year, Intersociety reported that some 14 million Christians had been uprooted and forced to flee their homes since 2009, and more than 800 Christian communities have been attacked.

“This is one of the consequences of food insecurity in the country,”Emeka told CWR.

Yet, in the seemingly hopeless situation, the bishops urged Christians to hold on to hope especially this Jubilee year that is observed under the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.”

The clerics called on God’s children to be sowers of hope in a world reeling from “the impacts of war, insurgency, the climate crisis, poverty and other vices.”

“We urge all our faithful therefore to hold on to that hope which never disappoints us and to believe that God will have the final say by living holy lives,” they said..

They called for collaboration in the fight against hunger. “We urge the government to engage with experts and creative social engineers to reduce the rate of hunger in society, thereby strengthening the hope of our citizens,” they said.

“It should concern the government at all levels that ‘Ebi npa wa,’ meaning ‘We are hungry,’ has become a more popular refrain on the lips of many Nigerians than the celebrated national, regional, or state anthems,” they said.

They urged investments in agriculture, saying that a country that cannot feed its citizens is not worthy of its sovereignty.

“This is even truer for Nigeria, which is well endowed with all the necessary ingredients for food sufficiency,” they asserted.

The clerics highlighted the need for good, ethical leadership as a way of restoring hope in a society where hunger, war and a changing climate is making hope an increasingly elusive dream.

“In order to restore hope to such a depressed populace,” the bishops stated, “Nigeria urgently needs transformative leadership. It needs training in intentional leadership that instills values of integrity, service and moral courage which will not spend valuable time lamenting the woes of the society, but which takes decisive action backed by personal sacrifice to counter them.”

The Director of Intersociety believes Nigeria can return to food self-sufficiency if the government resolves the problem of insecurity.

“The federal government needs to address food insecurity by disarming the jihadists they armed and sent to the farmlands. They need to send these individuals back to where they came from and allow the indigenous farmers to return to their farmlands and start cultivating again,” Emeka told CWR.

In the short term, however, the researcher suggests the government provides subsidies for imported food to solve the country’s immediate food needs.

“The federal government could use oil money and funds derived from taxation to open the borders for the importation of essential goods from outside the country, particularly staple foods like rice and beans. These items should be declared duty-free and highly subsidized, at least as a temporary measure, “he said.