The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has denied resorting to prayers to resolve food shortage in the country after a circular directing its employees to prepare for a three-week-long prayer and fasting session sparked criticism online.

“The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security on Saturday clarified that its suspended internal prayer initiative was not an official policy of the ministry to address agriculture and food security challenges in the country,” the ministry said in a statement on Saturday by its spokesperson, Ezeaja Ikemefuna.

In a circular dated June 11, sighted by Peoples Gazette, the ministry directed its board members and staff to participate in the weekly spiritual programme to pray against nationwide hunger, starting Monday, June 16.

“This is to invite all staff of the federal ministry of agriculture and food security to a solemn prayer session for God’s guidance and success in supporting the government’s efforts to achieve food security,” the circular, signed by Modupe Adedayo, the ministry’s director of human resource management, partly read.

The move quickly caused widespread outrage among the public, with netizens accusing the government of being insensitive to a nationwide issue amid reports that the majority of the country’s population has been plunged into hunger by President Bola Tinubu’s harsh economic policies.

However, the ministry has now backtracked from the planned prayer and fasting, noting that the programme is not an official event but an internal decision to seek spiritual help following a series of surprising deaths recorded among its staff.

“Though meant for internal consumption, but published online, like other internal activities of the ministry. In this regard, the ministry wishes to inform that the prayer session is an initiative of the Human Resource Department to address the well-being of the staff just as the already existing monthly aerobic exercise and establishment of the gymnasium in the ministry are for physical fitness as the regular medical check-up of staff are for their health.

“The prayer was to address the apprehensiveness of staff over the recent untimely and successive death of management staff of the ministry. The ministry emphasised that the prayer session is an internal initiative of staff to address the concern over sudden deaths in the ministry,” the ministry stated.