Catholic Bishops Decry Rising Food Insecurity, Herdsmen Attacks

Almost two years after President Bola Tinubu came to power, Catholic Bishops in Nigeria have lamented rising food insecurity in the country, leading to the ebi npa wa slogan among Nigerians.

The Catholic Bishops also de­cried the resurgence of the men­ace of herdsmen attacks, kidnap­pings, robberies and other crimes in some parts of Yorubaland, urg­ing the government to wake up to its responsibility of safeguarding the lives of the people.

These were contained in a communique issued after a two-day meeting of the Catholic Bishops of Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province held from February 10 through February 11, 2025, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The Catholic Bishops of Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province consists of Ilorin, Ondo, Oyo, Ekiti and Osogbo diocese.

The Catholic Bishops be­moaned that despite the glowing promises of Tinubu to ensure food security, the situation had been worse off in almost two years of this administration.

They regretted that millions of Nigerians still yearn for the most basic necessities of life, especial­ly food and called on the govern­ments across levels to increase investment in agriculture.

The ‘Ebi npa wa’ slogan (meaning ‘we are hungry’), gained traction in the country over a year ago when the government removed subsidy in petroleum and unveiled other unfavourble policies, which increased hard­ship in the country.

The Catholic Bishops im­plored the government to engage with experts and creative social engineers to reduce the rate of hunger in the society, stressing that this would serve as an added means of strengthening the hope of the citizens.

The communique reads: “‘We are hungry’ has become a more popular song on the lips of many Nigerians than the celebrated na­tional, regional or state anthems.

“While commending some cheering strides made by some governments to promote agricul­ture, we urge the government at all levels to invest more in agricul­ture, facilitate the involvement of the youth in it and boost provision of food in a sustainable manner through improved security and put strategies in place to reduce the escalated cost of food all over Nigeria.

“A country that cannot feed its citizens is not worth its sovereign­ty. This is even more true of Nige­ria, which is well-endowed with all the necessary ingredients for food sufficiency. Without food for the population hope is difficult to instill and productivity is dimin­ished because a hungry people is a restive people.”

The communique further de­nounced the threat posed more recently by the resurgence of the menace of herdsmen attacks, kidnappings, robberies and other crimes in parts of Yorubaland.

The bishops appealed to gover­nors and security agencies in the South West to rise up to the chal­lenge posed by these threats in or­der to maintain the relative peace and security of recent years.

They canvassed for efficient intelligence gathering, good remu­nerations and equipping of the se­curity outfits and a determination to prosecute crime without favour, saying that these must be pursued with single mindedness.

Besides, the Catholic Bishops expressed that Nigeria was in dire straits of transformative and self­less leadership in all spheres.

The Catholic Bishops main­tained that the current leadership across the country, had sidelined the rule of law, while corruption in the various institutions and individuals had become more pronounced.

The communique pointed out that Nigeria required training in intentional leadership that instills values of integrity, service and moral courage, which would not spend valuable time lamenting the woes of the society, but which takes decisive action backed by personal sacrifice to counter them.

The church insisted that it was committed to providing and sup­porting transformative education and programmes, which would equip and inspire the nation’s youths with the tools to lead with integrity, re-orientate their values by prioritising hard work, hones­ty, solidarity and compassion over crass materialism.

“We are committed through our agencies and personnel to pro­vide mentorship for our youths to learn from experienced leaders to cherish accountability and trans­parency and teach them how to become themselves pilgrims of hope and reconciliation in our depressed and fractured nation.

“We call on our government and private institutions to com­mit to these same noble objectives and more, we ask them to provide infrastructure and incentives to train, enable and encourage our people to earn an honest living through better infrastructure. Only if we proceed in this man­ner can we become together true agents of hope for our country,” the communique added.

The Catholic Bishops also tasked Tinubu not to make the proposed national confab with the Nigeria’s youths another talk shop or cosmetic exercise.