Hunger by Policy: Fasting For Food Security in Nigeria

As President Bola Tinubu’s deepening neoliberal reforms to appease the IMF worsens hunger, his government’s agriculture ministry has outraged Nigerians by organizing prayers and fasting in the hopes that a “divine intervention” will help improve food security. 

The first of these prayers was to be held on Monday, Jun 16, followed by two more on the successive Mondays on June 23 and June 30.

The invitation to attend these prayers in a fasted state was sent out to the staff through an internal circular dated June 11 by Adedayo Modupe, the ministry’s Director of Human Resource Management. 

“How do you expect a hungry man to start fasting again? The federal government should not frustrate us more; we have had enough,” an angry farmer told the Daily Trust after this circular was leaked.

Amid widespread outrage, the ministry backtracked, saying that prayers were “not an official policy to address agricultural and food security challenges in the country,” but “an initiative of the human resource department to address the wellbeing of the staff.” 

Its statement on Saturday said the prayer sessions were a measure in addition to the “already established monthly aerobic exercises and the gymnasium”, and “routine medical check-ups for staff” of the ministry. 

Assuring that the government was “working to ensure food and nutrition security”, including by distributing tractors and fertilizers, the ministry said that “President Bola Tinubu’s administration is determined to ensure that Nigerians have access to quality and affordable food.”

“Never before have there been so many people in Nigeria without food”: WFP

Taking office in 2023 after winning a contested election, Tinubu hurried to abide by the IMF diktats by announcing the end of the fuel subsidy to Africa’s largest crude oil producer in his inaugural speech on May 29 that year.

He followed this up with yet another IMF-prescribed measure of free-floating the currency, reducing its value vis-a-vis the dollar to a fraction, further undermining the Nigerians’ purchasing power.

Consequently, Tinubu presided over a tripling of sorghum price and a quadrupling of the cost of other staples like maize and beans within a year of taking power. In the lean season of 2024 between June and August, 26.5 million faced acute hunger, up from 18.6 million by the end of 2023.

When mass protests erupted against these policies in August, Tinubu’s government suppressed them by killing dozens in a violent crackdown involving extrajudicial executions, mass arrests, custodial torture, and charges of treason.

Nigeria recorded the world’s largest increase in acute food security in 2024. “Never before have there been so many people in Nigeria without food,” the UN World Food Program (WFP) warned in November that year. Acute food insecurity stalks 30.6 million Nigerians this lean season. 

“People are dying of hunger across Nigeria, yet they are afraid to speak up or protest. The government is known for repression – arresting, jailing, and even killing peaceful protesters, and charging minors with treason. But that will not stop us today,” coordinator of the Take-It-Back (TIB) Movement, Rex Elanu, said in his address to the demonstration in Abuja in Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on June 12. 

The End Bad Governance Movement, Coalitions of Socialists, Students Against Hardship and Hunger, and labor activists also mobilized for the protest, drawing thousands to streets in several states on that date, marking the anniversary of the restoration of democracy in 1999. 

“June 12 Day of Rage Against Inflicted Hunger on Nigerians by the Tinubu Regime”, “End Hunger”, “End Attacks on Democratic Rights” read the placards raised by the protesters demanding a reversal of Tinubu’s pro-IMF, anti-poor policies. 

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch