Our attention has been drawn to a circular dated 11th June, 2025 with Ref. No. AGR. 12/S.27/1091/I/12 issued by the Director Human Resources to other Directors and staff members of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security on the need for fasting and prayers within the Ministry for God’s guidance and Success in supporting government’s efforts to achieve food security.
As the national professional body of Registered Nutritionists – Dietitians, we are not only surprised at the resolve of a science driven federal ministry to rely on prayers for the realisation of her key and primary task, we are bewildered to note that the Ministry’s reliance on prayers is against the Constitution of the country that discourage adoption of a religion as that of the state.
As a key stakeholder in task of guaranteeing food security in the society, the Institute for Dietetics in Nigeria (IDN) organized a national scientific conference in 2024 at Keffi for the purpose of profering evidence based solutions to the food insecurity problem that is ravaging the country. Apart from extending invitation to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the Honourable Minister of the Ministry was invited to the conference as well.
The Minister did not only absented himself from the program, the ministry failed to identify with our professional body in any way!
At the conference several scientific presentations were made and quite a number of scientific innovations and inventions on how to tackle food insecurity were unravelled. The Ministry of Agriculture is not aware of the breakthroughs recorded at the IDN conference and the yeoman task of the dietitians towards guaranting food security because of her failure to participate at the conference.
It is on the basis of the afforesaid that we hereby call on the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to perish her wishful thinking of solving Nigeria’s food insecurity problem with prayers. In leu, we call on the ministry to pave way for adequate research by competent professionals towards solving the nation’s food security crisis. The current situation where one can not find professionals like Nutritionists and Dietitians in sufficient numbers in the employment of the Ministry calls for concern. We advocate that rather than saddling nutrition issues with other professionals that are more of quacks, the Ministry should ensure that Nutritionists and Dietitians are employed in adequate numbers to see to improvement of nutrients in our foods and other edibles.
In all, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security should be more business – like and should price adequate research, appropriate Action and professionalism far and above prayers.
