Food is not just a basic need; it is also an indispensable need in the life of every human being. We cannot do without food. We need food for growth, sustenance and nourishment. Food, to a large extent, controls all our actions. Without food we cannot work, we cannot play, we cannot even reason or function well. If you want to be active and attentive then you must take your food and diet seriously. The secret of healthy life is balanced diet.

Considering the importance of food, the UN has declared October 16th as World Food Day. It is a day set aside to reflect on the importance of Food and possible ways of securing food for human consumption and preservation. it is also an opportunity to highlight some of the challenges facing food production and food security.

Incidentally, the second Sustainable Development Goal is to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.” Food is the only thing that can bring hunger to an end. it is also through food that we receive most of our nutrition. Most of the food we eat are derived through Agricultural science.

The promotion of agriculture is the promotion of food production. Agricultural development is the best possible way to secure food. Any nation that takes food production and security serious must insist on making agricultural science a compulsory subject. The government should also procure agricultural equipments and incentives to encourage its citizens to go into agriculture for food production.

There are so many challenges facing food production and agricultural development. One of the major and current challenges facing agriculture is climate change. In view of this, the Theme of 2017 World Food Day is “Climate is changing, food and agriculture must too.” This theme tries to highlight the effects of climate change on agriculture. It also addresses some of the challenges the world is facing due to climate change, especially in the area of food production.

I strongly doubt if the major cause of food shortage is climate change. Climate change has little or nothing to contribute to food shortage. The major cause of Food shortage, according to Pope Francis, “is not something natural or self-evident. The fact that today, so many people suffer from this scourge is due to a selfish and wrong distribution of resources, to the “merchandizing” of food.” So, for the Pope the cause of food shortage is not just climate change for selfishness and wrong distribution of food and other resources.

One man’s meat is another man’s poison. Here in Nigeria, for instance, as many people are suffering, dying of hunger, there are few individuals who are making billions of money through the present agricultural and economical policies. The ban on the importation of rice, for instance, has favoured few farmers and few importers, especially those with government license.

God has blessed the world with enough food. There is no year we have not recorded rich harvest. But unfortunately, this bunk of food is in the hands of few greedy and selfish individuals who do not believe in sharing and equal distribution of food and other resources. Another problem we are facing here in Nigeria is how to preserve our perishable food. Most of the perishable fruits are thrown away during their sessions because of lack of preservations. This is an area the government has to take seriously. After production what follows is food security and preservation.

Food shortage and scarcity is a major cause of hunger whereas hunger is the major cause of anger and even political agitations. His Eminence, Anthony Cardinal Okojie, identified hunger as the major cause of hate speech and agitations in Nigeria. According to him, “Deprivation has turned into agitation… Nigerians are hungry and angry. In their anger, they turn against each other on the social media, using unprintable language, threats and violence to sort out their differences.” A hungry man is indeed an angry man!

Our young people, according to His Eminence, are the worst hit. They are unemployed, hungry and angry. They are venting their anger on one another, while we, their elders, are silent. Our political leaders are not just keeping quiet. They are even looking for a way to wipe out our hungry and angry youths. They have even labeled some of our youths as terrorists. How many hungry and angry youths are we going to kill so as to solve the problem facing Nigeria? By the way, will the death of these angry youths solve the problem of Nigeria?

The only language a hungry and angry man understands is the language of food. If we feed our angry youths with food by providing them with job and making food available and affordable, I assure you all the agitations in Nigeria and even in the whole world will surely come to an end. The government should equally create jobs through Agricultural development. I want to use this medium to commend the governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki for his agro-based youth empowerment initiates. Through this programme so many young people will definitely gain employment. Apart from the creation of job for the youths with this programme there will also be enough food for the state. I just pray that the right people will be in place to help the governor actualize this noble vision.

Ever before UN declared October 16th as World Food Day, our Lord Jesus Christ has already inaugurated the oppression feed the world. When his disciples wanted to send the hungry crowd away so that they could go to the town to buy food, but Jesus told them, “You yourself, give them something to eat!” (Matthew 14:15-16). One of the reasons why Jesus commissioned his disciples was for them to feed the hungry crowd. I wonder how many men of God are feeding the hungry crowd today!

After his resurrection, Jesus called Peter, the head of the Apostles, three times, saying, “Peter do you love me?” Peter responded, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you!” Jesus said to him, “Feed my Sheep!” He repeated this three times. This is the major task of a true Apostle. True apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ are called to feed the hungry children of God not just with the word of God but also with material food as Jesus did. After on different occasions Jesus fed four thousand and even five thousand men, not counting women and children.

Unfortunately, instead of feeding the people, as Jesus did, most of us, men of God, are now feeding on the people. We have used tithe and seed sowing to impoverish so many people. Some of us don’t even care whether people are receiving their salaries or not. We, men of God, should not be insensitive to the needs of the people. After in Acts of the Apostles, at the early stage of the Church, the disciples were sharing things in common. That is why, “There was not a needy person among them…” (Acts 4:34). if the men of God should re-introduce this spirit of sharing in our Church today, nobody will go home hungry.

The wrong distribution of resources which the Pope identified as a major cause of hunger is even worst in the Nigerian Churches. Men of God who reside in urban cities are getting more money than those in the rural areas. The rich men of God are getting richer while the poor ones are getting poorer; as though some were ordained with more superior anointing oil. This why is one of the reasons why I insist that what we are practicing in Nigeria is not yet Christianity but Religious Capitalism.

If you go to the Northern part of Nigeria you will be surprise to see some men of God who could not even afford their daily bread whereas some big cities like Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, etc you see some men of God who are so rich that they don’t even know what to do with money. Instead of sharing the food and money with those in the rural areas, the only thing they do is to destroy old existing structures and keep replacing them with modern structures.

Am glad His Eminience, Cardinal Antony Okojie has finally acknowledged that the reason why the Nigerians are angry is because they are hungry. This applies to the Church as well. For instance, how do you expect the hungry men of God from the rural areas to be happy when their counterparts in the cities are living flamboyant life? How do you expect the hungry Christians at the rural areas to be happy when most of the proceeds from the harvest are taken away to develop city churches.

In conclusion, therefore, the government and the Church has enough food. What we lack is the spirit of sharing. With sharing and equitable distribution of resources – hunger, anger and even political agitations will all disappear in Jesus name – Amen!