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Abstract
Poverty is a perennial human problem which has spiritual, social and economic dimensions. 
However, extreme poverty which manifests itself in hunger, that is, food insecurity, and the lack 
of other basic necessities of life, is an assault on human dignity and an infringement on 
fundamental human rights. Poverty and food insecurity are certainly socio-economic 
problems, but with fundamental ethical questions. For this reason, it has become pertinent to 
reexamine the increasing situation of extreme poverty in Nigeria. This study has, therefore, for 
its objective to investigate the problem of poverty and food insecurity in Nigeria from the 
perspective of Christian social teaching and human rights discourse. The paper is an 
exploratory essay which has adopted a qualitative method approach. Data was generated 
mainly from secondary sources, obtained through critical reading of existing literature in 
print and internet materials. The information obtained was subjected to content analysis and 
insightful findings were drawn. The findings reveal that poverty and food insecurity have been 
on the increase in Nigeria since 2004 in contrast to a relative growth in the nation's Gross 
Domestic Product (GDP).  Nigeria has spent very low percentage of its GDP on health, 
education and social welfare, thus fuelling extreme poverty and socio-economic inequalities. 
Furthermore, human choices, policies and unethical behaviour have contributed to the 
existing situation. Nonetheless, Christian social teaching addresses such unethical 
misconduct. The study, therefore, recommended that government should increase its GDP 
spending on human development. In addition, Nigerian citizens, the rich, politicians, the 
clergy and pastors should reform their lifestyle to make the poor less dependent on palliatives 
and charity.

Key words: Poverty, food insecurity, hunger, Christian social teaching, human rights, social 
justice.

Background to the Study
On September 25, 2015, world leaders, under the auspices of the United Nations, adopted a set 
of 17 “Global Goals” with 169 targets in a document titled: Transforming our world: the 2030 
agenda for sustainable development (UN DOC, A/RES/70/1,2015). The first two of these 17 
goals have inspired this study with a focus on their application in Nigeria. While goal 1 states: 
“end poverty in all its forms everywhere”; goal 2 declares: “end hunger, achieve food security 
and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” (UN DOC, A/RES/70/1, 2015). In 
brief, the two goals have for their objective to end poverty and achieve food security for all as a 
more sustainable way of transforming our world. In its introduction, the United Nations 
acknowledged that “eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme 

MARY-NOELLE ETHEL EZEH, IHM
Department of Religion and Society

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University
Anambra State

POVERTY AND FOOD INSECURITY IN NIGERIA 
FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CHRISTIAN SOCIAL 

TEACHING AND HUMAN RIGHTS DISCOURSE 

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poverty poses: the greatest global challenge”. Nonetheless, it is “an indispensable requirement 
for sustainable development (UN DOC, A/RES/70/1, 2015). For this reason, the United 
Nations resolved to “end poverty and hunger everywhere” between 2015 and 2030.

The tragic situation of poverty and food insecurity in Nigeria, one of the leading world's 
leading oil-producing nations, has made headlines both in international and national news. A 
report of Development Finance International (DFI) and Oxfam warned in 2018 that Nigeria 
was set to become the world's poverty capital when the country was, for the second time,  
placed at the bottom of a ranking of 157 nations (Quartz African, 2018). Another report from 
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) also raised alarm concerning food insecurity in 
Nigeria in 2018. The report stated that 13 million people in Nigeria have been exposed to 
hunger in 2016 and that nearly 2.3 million, mostly in three states worst hit by Boko Haram 
insurgency, Adamawa, Borno and Yobe have been subjected to acute food shortage (Punch, 
Oct 21, 2018). On October 8, 2019, Nigeria was declared Nigeria the “world capital of 
poverty”, at Abuja, with an estimated 94, 470, 535 million people living below extreme 
poverty level (www.shipsandports.com.ng). 

In November 2019, FAO report raised yet another alarm concerning food insecurity in 
Northern Nigeria. It stated:

The latest Cadre Harmonise Analysis (November, 2019) indicates that an estimated 2.6 
million people face severe food insecurity in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, a 
reduction of nearly 300,000 people from June 2019. However, if no humanitarian support 
is provided, a projected 3.6 million people in the three states are likely to be severely food 
insecure from Aug 2020, traditionally the lean season in the North-East. ().
The reality of extreme poverty and severe food insecurity in Nigeria is an undeniable fact.

 However, since poverty is a multidimensional social phenomenon, scholars have studied 
it from different perspectives. Sulaiman, (2008), studied poverty from its economic 
dimension. Ezeh, (2012), examined poverty and environmental issues. Yakubu (2020), 
studied the impact of poverty on national insecurity. Ojo (2012), explored an overview of food 
security crisis in Nigeria, while Etim, Duke and Ogbinyi (2017), investigated the implications 
of food insecurity and hunger on national security. This paper has opted to study the issue of 
poverty and food insecurity in Nigeria from the dimension of the ethical questions at stake. 
The researcher is convinced that humans are moral agents who exhibit attitudes, make 
decisions and policies, establish and maintain structures that push millions of people into 
poverty and expose many more to go without food on the table. Put in another form, the 
researcher considers it pertinent to examine how poverty and food insecurity constitute an 
assault on human dignity and a breach of the fundamental human right to adequate food 
(UDHR, 1948, no 25). The investigation is carried out from the perspective of Christian social 
teaching and human rights discourse with the view to advancing a panacea.

Objective of the Study
The general objective of this study is, therefore, to examine the problem of poverty and food 
insecurity in Nigeria from the perspective of Christian social teaching and human rights 
discourse. The paper has for its specific objective:
- To present the reality of poverty and food insecurity in Nigeria.
- To raise the ethical questions at stake.
- To elucidate how Christian social teaching addresses the problem and its relevance today.
- To advance a panacea.

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Methodology
The study is an exploratory essay and, therefore, has used qualitative research method 

approach. A critical discourse analysis was used to generate data mainly from secondary 
sources: textbooks, journal articles, newspapers and internet materials. The data generated 
was subjected to content analysis and interpretation from which insightful findings were 
drawn. 

Conceptual Elucidation
Poverty
A simple dictionary definition of the term “poverty” describes it as a state of being in want of 
the necessities of life. It is also defined as the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in 
amount (Oxford Dictionary, 2020). Poverty is however a multidimensional concept which 
denotes a lack of the basic necessities of life: food, shelter and clothing, or insufficiency in the 
quantity and quality of the essential goods and service: income, health and education. Poverty 
has economic, social, political, spiritual and cultural elements. The economic aspect is often 
the most outstanding against which measurement is set. In this regard, poverty is described as 
the lack of sufficient material or financial resources necessary to meet one's personal needs by 
the prevailing standard of living. World Bank has set the international standard measurement 
of poverty on monetary threshold. 

In 2015, World Bank set the international poverty level at $1.90 per day. A person is 
considered poor if his/her income falls below $1.90. Although this standard has been criticised 
for failing to take into account the availability of other indicators like sanitation, water, 
electricity, education and health as they affect the quality of life, it is still the adopted 
international standard for measuring poverty and this guides the discussion of the paper.

Food insecurity
Food insecurity is a complex concept for definition. It is the antithesis of food security. 
According to FAO (1996), “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical 
and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and 
food preferences for an active and healthy life” (World Food Summit, 1996). Four key 
elements stand out in this definition of food security:

·Availability, having sufficient quantity of appropriate food.
·Accessibility, the ability to have enough resources to access appropriate food.
·Utilisation, the ability to take nutritious food, to absorb and use the nutrients.
·Stability, a steady and stable flow of food supplies in the market.

The FAO has also defined food insecurity as “a situation when people lack secure access to 
sufficient amount of safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and active 
and healthy life” (World Food Summit, 1996). As in the case of food security, the key factors 
involved in food insecurity are:

- Non-availability of appropriate food.
- Lack of resources to access it.
- Improper utilisation of the nutrients.
- Instability of food supply over a certain time limit.
The physical outstanding signs of food insecurity are hunger, under-nourishment and 

malnutrition. Hunger is the principal factor against which food insecurity is measured. The 
two key international standards for the measurement of food insecurity in a country are the 

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prevalent children underweight and the FAO calculations of the proportion of a population 
living below a minimum level of food-energy consumption (De Muro & Mazziotta, 2011).

In any given population, it is often the poor, that is, those living below the international 
poverty line of $1.90 per day, who are the principal victims of food insecurity. The poor are the 
most vulnerable to hunger, under-nourishment and malnutrition. Herein lays the nexus 
between poverty and food insecurity since it is the poor who suffer food insecurity the most. It 
is, therefore, not surprising that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should prioritise the 
fight against poverty and food insecurity together as numbers one and two of the 2030 agenda.

Human Rights
Human rights are the inalienable and inviolable rights or faculties that are inherent in every 
human being as a member of the human family. Although the concept of human rights is old as 
human civilisation, its prevalent usage as a phrase has relatively a recent origin in the 20th 
century. The idea of human rights dates back to the Greco-Roman concept of natural law found 
in the writings of Plato (427-248) BC and Marcus Tulius Cicero (106-43) BC and other stoics. 
Both Plato, in the Republic, and the stoics used the concept of natural law to refer to universal 
truths or a higher order of law, inherent in nature, which should serve as a standard for human 
conduct as well as the laws of the civil society and government. The natural law theory upheld 
that a universal force pervades the entire creation which acts as the foundation and reference 
point for human ethical conduct and positive law. In the Middle Ages, Christian writers, 
especially Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) and later in the seventeenth century, Hugo Grotius 
(1583-1645), developed the theory of natural law into natural rights to serve as benchmark for 
personal rights and standard of justice in conflict situation.

While Thomas Aquinas held the view that natural law is rooted in a divine law and can be 
discovered by the rightful use of human reason, Grotius, a Christian writer in the Age of 
Reason, focused more on natural law as a force pervading nature and accessible to human 
reason. Grotius' philosophical and legal writings have influenced many modern scholars of 
natural right including John Locke. Although the natural right theory has been criticised as 
abstract by utilitarian philosophers like Bentham (1780 - 1832) and his followers, the theory 
has continued to inform modern concept of human rights.

The concept of human rights, as a historical document, is however traceable to some key 
documents that emerged from the social, political, economic and religious conflicts in Europe 
and America. Such documents include: the English Magna Carta, 1215, the English Bill of 
Rights 1689, the American Bills of Rights1776, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man 
and the citizen, 1789, as well as the German Weimar Constitutions, 1919 (Iwe, 1986). It was, 
nonetheless, in the aftermath of the atrocities of the Second World War that the United Nations, 
on December 10, 1948, adopted the document titled: the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights for use in national and international relations. The document enunciated 30 articles of 
fundamental human rights in the natural, civil, political, religious, cultural, social and 
economic domains in addition to a meaningful long preamble. Although the declaration lacks 
the status of a convention to carry legal obligation on member states, it has still the force of a 
substantial body of world opinion and enjoins on the members the obligation to incorporate the 
provisions enunciated in their national constitutions and laws. Moreover, the declaration has 
the force of moral obligation and forms the basis for universally accepted ethical standard. 

The very first line of the preamble declares that the “recognition of the inherent dignity and 
of equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of 
freedom, justice and peace in the world” (UN, 1948). The economic section of the document 

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which deals with the fundamental rights of every person to the use of the material goods of the 
earth is of particular interest to the reflections of this paper. Art 25 (1) states: “Everyone has the 
right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, 
including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right 
to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other 
lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control” (UN, 1948).

The Theoretical Framework:
The theoretical discussion of this paper is informed by the Christian principles on human rights 
and economic matters concerning poverty, hunger and wealth as expressed in the Judeo-
ChristianScriptures and in the writings of the Early Christians notably: Ambrose of Milan and 
John Chrysostom. Their core teachings on human rights, poverty, hunger and wealth, were 
later elaborated in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and has been continued in our day 
through the tradition of Catholic Social Teaching, beginning with the encyclical of Leo XIII 
(1891), Rerum novarum: On the condition of workers to Pope Francis (2015), Laudato si: On 
the care of our common home. Among this corpus of papal socio-economic documents, the 
following are of particular interest to this work: John XXIII (1963), Pacem in terris: Peace on 
earth, Vatican II, 1965, Gaudium et spes: The Church in the modern world, Paul VI (1967), 
Populorum progressio: On the development of peoples and John Paul II (1987), Sollicitude rei 
socialis: On social concern.

Christian understanding of human dignity and natural law is central to appreciating its 
teaching on the economic and social issues of poverty, food insecurity and human rights. From 
a Christian perspective, human dignity is the belief that every person is created in the image 
and likeness of God, the imago Dei, (Gen 1:26-27). Therefore, by their very existence, humans 
have an inherent, natural value and worth that must be recognised and respected. Every man 
and woman have also been endowed, by God the Creator, with reason, intelligence and 
freedom, thus making us moral agents and participants in the socio-economic activities as co-
creators. This understanding of the human dignity of every person is a key factor in elucidating 
human rights and responsibility. Human dignity gives human rights its characteristic element 
of being natural, universal, inviolable and inalienable; it also imposes a correlative 
responsibility, thus making humans moral agents. It is what guarantees the inherent right of 
every person to the use of material goods of the earth to maintain “a descent and healthy 
standard of living” (John XXIII, P.T., 1963). At the same time, it places a moral responsibility 
on individuals and on the society to ensure that the goods of the earth are made available, 
sufficient and accessible to all persons.

The state of poverty and food insecurity in Nigeria 1990-2018
Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer and has been described as one of the fastest growing 
economies in the region with a significant Gross Domestic Product (GPD) growth recorded 
between 2002 and 2014 as revealed in the table below.

COOU Journal of Arts and Humanities (CJAH) Vol. 5 No. 3, 2020



Source: https: // countryeconomy.com <gdp >
The evolution of Nigeria Gross domestic Product (GDP) discloses a growth performance of 
14.6% in 2002, 10.4% in 2004; a rise to 11.3% in 2010 and a fall down to 6.3% in 2014; a 
plumping down to -1.6% in 2016, due to recession, and finally a rise to 1.9% in 2018. 
Unfortunately, despite this relative good performance of Nigeria GDP, largely from the oil 
sector, the oil wealth has not been translated into improving the living conditions of the 
masses. Poverty is on the increase and food insecurity drives millions to suffer hunger and 
malnutrition as indicated in table 2 below.

Table 2: Population of Nigeria Living below poverty line 1992-2010

06

Date Annual GDP in figure GDP Growth %

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2016

2018

93,983M.$

130,345 M.$

227,791 M.$

330,260 M.$

360,062 M.$

460,952 M.$

405,442 M.$

398,186 M.$

14.6%

10.4%

6.7%

7.2%

11.3%

4.3%

-1.6%

1.9%

Table 1: Nigeria Annual GDP Evolution 2002-2018

Date Population

1992

1996

2004

2010

39.2million

67.1 million

68.7 million

112.47 million

Source: National Bureau of Statistics as cited in www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-17015873.
According to this report of Nationals Bureau of Statistics, 112.47 million Nigerians lived 
below the poverty line of $1.9 in 2010. The figure is a significant rise from 68.1 million in 2004 
and stands in contrast to the GDP which stood at 11.3% in 2010 and 10.4% in 2004 as indicated 
in table 1 above.

Furthermore, the 2019 Human Development Index (HDI) report on Nigeria is very instructive. 
Human Development Index (HDI) is a report prepared by World Bank and other international 
bodies to measure and indicate which countries are preeminent in mobilising the economic 
and potential professional of their citizens for long-term progress. It is a summary scale for 
evaluating a country's long term progress in three basic aspects of human development 
namely: a long and healthy life, education and a descent standard of living. A long and healthy 

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life level is assessed by life expectancy; education level is calculated by the mean years of 
schooling among the adult population at 25 years of age, while the standard of living is 
evaluated by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita.

Table 3: Trends in Nigeria's Human Development Index 1990 to 2018.

Date Life expectancy 
at birth

1990

1995

2000

2010

2015

2016

2017

2018

Expected years 
of schooling 

Mean years 
of schooling

GNI per capital
 (2011 PPP$)

HDI Value

45.9

45.9

46.9
48.3

50.9

53.5

54.0

54.3

6.7

7.2

8.0

9.0

8.4

9.5

9.7

9.7

-

-

-

5.2

5.2

6.3

6.5

6.5

3,221

2,872

2,828

3,812

4,793

5,336

5,203

5,086

-

-

-

0.467

0.484

0.527

0.533

0.534

Source: UNDP, 2019.

The progress trend in each of the Nigeria HDI indicators between 1990 and 2018 reveals that 
the life expectancy at birth rose by 8.4years, the expected years of school increased by 3 years, 
while the mean years of school gained 1.2 years. The standard of living, measured by GNI per 
capita, grew by 57.9 per cent. However, the total Human Development Index value for Nigeria 
for 2018 was 0.534, a figure that put the country in the rank of low human Development (LHD) 
category. Indeed, Nigeria ranked 158 out of the 189 countries and territories on the UNDP list 
for 2018. Furthermore, Nigeria's human capital spending is considered very low on three 
important dimensions, health, education and social protection, which have been considered 
key factors in reducing inequality and eradicating poverty. It is then not surprising that, in 
2018, Nigeria should take the last position by ranking 157 out of 157 countries selected for a 
report on Commitment to Reducing Index (CRI).The position of last 10 countries selected in 
the CRI report stands as follows:

Table 4: Ten Last Countries on2018 Commitment to Reducing Index report

Country Rank

Bangladesh

Singapore

Lao PDR

148

149

150

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Madagascar

Bhutan

Sierra Leone

Chad

Haiti

Uzbekistan

Nigeria

151

152

153

154

155

156

157

Source: https://qz.com/africa/1421543/nigeria-

Source: Data compiled from World Bank, 2016  

In 2003, Nigeria spent only 4.0 per cent of its GDP on health and the figure declined to 3.7 in 
2013. These figures are less than half of what South Africa spent on health for the same period. 
The figures are also comparatively lower than other countries like Uganda with 7.5 in 2003 
and 2013, and Rwanda with 6.3 in 2003 and 7.7 in 2013. The resultant effect of this poor 
spending on the health sector is seen in Nigeria scoring highest in the under-five mortality rate 
in 2003 and 2013 among the nine countries listed above. Nigeria and Ethiopia also scored 
highest in the rate of malnutrition at 28.7, but while Ethiopia dropped from 41.2 in 2003 to 28.7 
in 2013, Nigeria remained stable at 28.7 for a full decade.

Furthermore, between 2003 and 2013 Nigeria's low spending on health did not fare very well 
when compared with some other sub-Sahara countries. Table 5 below is very revealing.

Table 5: Nigeria and selected countries' health expenditure and indicators 2003 and 2013

Countries

Nigeria

Kenya

Ghana

Ethiopia

Rwanda

Senegal

Tanzania

Uganda

South 

Africa

Under-five mortality 

rate (per 1,000)

Stunting (height for 

age below 2 SDs)

Malnutrition (weight 

for age below 2 SDs)

Health expenditure, 

total (% of GDP)

2003 2013 2003 2003 20032013 2013 2013

201.0

95.4

91.3

124.8

139.4

112.5

106.9

124.2

78.1

128.0

53.4

66.5

64.6

47.8

52.5

53.3

60.3

43.4

38.3

35.7
-

50.8

51.1

19.6

44.3

44.8
-

36.8

35.3

28.0

44.4

44.2

18.7

42

33.4

-

28.7

15.8

-

41.2

19.5

14.2

16.4

15.9

-

28.7

16.1

13.9

28.7

11.4

15.7

15.8

13.8

-

4.0

4.4

3.1

4.6

6.3

5.4

4.1

7.5

8.3

3.7

5.6

4.6

5.2

7.7

4.5

5.6

7.5

8.8



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COOU Journal of Arts and Humanities (CJAH) Vol. 5 No. 3, 2020

Malnutrition is indeed a strong indicator of food insecurity in a country. The malnutrition trend 
in Nigeria continued unabatedly leading FAO, at the World Food Day in Rome, in 2018, to 
raise alarm that 13 million Nigerians have been subjected to hunger since 2016. Hunger and 
malnutrition violate the fundamental human right to “a standard of living adequate for health 
and well-being” (UDHR, 1948, no 25). Furthermore, they have debilitating effects in the 
productive capacity of the victims, because they deny them opportunities and prevent than 
from attaining their full capacity in life. In addition, poverty and food insecurity hurt 
economies and create imbalance in economic power, which in turn, is translated often into 
political dominance. 

Nevertheless, the choices and policies of a society, its economic and social structures, as 
well as the life-style of its individual citizens are also very significant factors in determining 
the rate of poverty and food insecurity in a country. Therefore, in the face of this social, 
economic and moral problem of poverty and food insecurity in Nigeria, there is no room for a 
complacent attitude or inaction. Humans have a choice because they are moral agents 
responsible for their action or inaction.

Poverty and food insecurity in the light of Christian social teaching
The Christian approach to the issue of the right to the basic necessities of life has its foundation 
in the Bible particularly in the teachings of Old Testament prophets on social justice, especially 
Amos, Micah, Isaiah and Jeremiah. In addition, two key New Testament passages also throw 
further light on the Christian understanding and teaching on the right to and the responsibility 
for the basic necessities of life. The two passages underscore the attitude and action of Jesus 
and his uncompromising verdict on the respect or non-respect of this right. 

The first passage is on the feeding of the five thousand people Matt. 14: 13-21; Mk. 6: 30-
44; Lk. 9: 10-17; Jn. 6: 1-14. In this episode, Jesus was faced with the problems of food 
shortage before a crowd of over five thousand people. In the narrative, while the synoptic 
gospels tell us that the disciples took the initiative to plead with Jesus to send the hungry crowd 
away, the gospel of John emphasises that it was Jesus who first invited the disciples to take 
action to procure food for the people, giving thus priority to their right to food as a basic 
necessity. What is important, however, is that Jesus recognized the right of the people to have 
adequate food and insisted on the responsibility of his disciples to take action. Jesus provided 
more than sufficient  for all to have their fill and ordered the gathering of the leftover to avoid 
waste (Matt. 14:20). 

This action of Jesus underscores the fact that it is morally unacceptable for rich 
individuals, corporate bodies and wealthy nations to hoard and waste food, while millions of 
people starve as victims of anthropological poverty. In modern society, it should be considered 
a moral obligation of justice and equity that the superfluous wealth of rich individuals and 
countries be mobilized and used for the benefit of and the service of hungry people and poor 
nations. Indeed, according to Paul VI: “We are not justified in keeping for our exclusive use 
what we do not need, when others lack necessities” (Populorum Progressio, 1967, no. 23). If 
waste, hoarding and greed are eliminated and available food is equitably distributed in socio-
economic relations, no one perhaps may starve. 

The second New Testament passage is on the final judgement of the nations, Matt. 25:31-
46. The key criterion of this judgment is the practice or non-practice of provision of the basic 
necessities of life to anyone in need. “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and 
you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you 
gave me clothing” Matt. 25:35-36. Christian ethics demand action in favour of eradicating 
extreme poverty and food insecurity. 



This is not just a matter of Christian charity, but rather a moral issue of justice and equity 
to assure that every person has access to the basic necessity of life. The neglect of such moral 
responsibility is a grave omission condemned by Jesus himself. It is such negligence and 
omission that are highlighted and condemned in the story of the Rich man and Lazarus as 
narrated in the Gospel of Luke 19: 20-31. Indeed, Jesus was unequivocal and uncompromising 
in his verdict that the respect or non-respect of the right to the basic necessities of life: food, 
shelter and clothing, is the condition sine qua nonfor entry or non-entry into the kingdom of 
God (Matt. 25:31-46).

Therefore, the attitude, action and teachings of Jesus have always formed the bedrock of 
authentic Christian teaching and practice on social and economic matters down the ages. The 
early Christian communities owned and shared everything in common in such a manner that 
no one was in need. When problem arose, the apostles made justice and fairness key factors in 
the daily distribution of goods and quickly appointed deacons to take charge of equitable 
treatment of the most vulnerable, the widows (Acts 6:1-6).

It was however in the fourth century that early Christian writers, especially Ambrose of 
Milan, 340-397 AD, and John Chrysostom, 347-407AD, started to develop a more systematic 
thought on the question of wealth, poverty and authentic Christian responsibility towards the 
poor. These early Christian writers defended the principle of the universal destination of 
material goods as God's gift to all people (Gen. 1&2). As such, the material goods of the earth 
are considered the common property of all, so every person has a right to the use of them 
(Evan, 2006). It was against this background that Ambrose of Milan wrote: 

How far, O rich, do you extend your mad greed? Shall you alone dwell upon the earth (Is. 
5:8)? Why do you cast out the companion whom nature has given you and claim for 
yourself nature's possession? The earth was established in common to all, rich and poor. 
Why do you alone, O rich, demand special treatment? Nature which begets everyone 
poor, knows no wealthy, for we are not born with clothing or silver. Naked it brings us 
into light (Cf. Job 1:21), wanting food, clothing and drink and naked the earth receives us 
whom it brought forth, not knowing how to compass our possession in the tomb (On 
Naboth, 1.2).

Ambrose Milan clearly stated that the earth was established in common for all, rich and 
poor. It is greed that makes the rich hoard the common material goods to the determent of 
his/her neighbour. Ambrose asserted that what the rich donates to the poor is simply a 
restoration of what was usurped, for material goods belong to all. To this effect he wrote:

It is not anything of yours that you are bestowing on the poor; rather, you are giving back
something of his. For you alone are usurping what was given in common for the use of all.
The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich, but there are fewer who do not use what I
theirs than who use it. You are giving back something that is owed, then, and no
 something that is not owed (Naboth, 13.53).

Ambrose based his social teaching on an analysis of the oppressive encounter between the 
wealthy king Ahab and poor Naboth in 1kgs 21: 1-15. He followed the tradition of the prophets 
on social justice, making liberal references to scriptural passages such as Is. 5:8-23; 58:6-9;  
Hos 10:12;5:8-23;  Mat 25:35-36;  Job 1:21;  29:12-16.

In the same line of thought, John Chrysostom also wrote to condemn the economic 
inequality of his era, by which the rich amassed wealth through greed and corruption and grew 
richer and more powerful, while the poor starved and languished in poverty and crushing debt. 

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10



He wrote:
Not to share our riches with the poor is a robbery of the poor, and a depriving them of 
their livelihood; and that which we possess is not only our own, but also theirs (Discourse 
2 on the Rich Man and Lazarus).
Why? Because God in the beginning did not make one man rich and another poor… He 
left the earth free to all alike. Why then, if it is common, do you have so many acres of 
land, while your neighbour has no portion of it? … (Homily 12 on 1Tm).

Furthermore, John Chrysostom admonished the rich:
Do you wish to honour the Body of the Saviour? Do not despise him when he is naked. Do 
not honour him in the Church with silk vestments while outside he is naked and numb with 
cold. He who said, “This is my body” and made it so by his word, is the same that said, 
“You saw me hungry and gave me no food. As you did not to the least of these, you did not 
to me,” honour him then by sharing your property with the poor (Homily 50 on Matthew).

John Chrysostom also made it clear that he was not against wealth “per se”, but the abuse and 
misuse of wealth and its wrong acquisition through greed and corruption, which he condemned 
because it reinforced economic inequality, robbed the poor of their right to the basic necessities 
of life and disregarded human dignity. “But those I attack are not the rich as such, only those 
who misuse their wealth. I point out constantly that those I accuse are not the rich but the 
rapacious. Wealth is one thing, covetousness another. Learn to distinguish” (Homily on the 
Fall of Eutropius).

In our modern era, the Catholic Church has continued this tradition of Christian discourse 
on socio-economic matters through its corpus called Catholic Social Teaching. The encyclical 
of John XXIII, Pacem in Terris (P.T.), (1963), discusses the issue of human rights from the 
Christian perspective. On the question of poverty and food insecurity, John XXIII stated that 
the right to life is correlative with quality of life, that is, the right to a decent and healthy 
standard of living. To achieve a decent and healthy well-being, every person has the right to the 
use of and the responsibility to make use of the material goods of the earth as the common 
property of all. He wrote:

Beginning our discussion of the rights of man and woman, we see that every person has the 
right to life, to bodily integrity, and to the means which are necessary and suitable for 
proper development of life. These means are primarily food, clothing, shelter, rest, 
medical care and finally the necessary social means (P.T., 11).The right of every person to 
life is correlative with the duty to preserve it; his right to a decent standard of living, with 
the duty of living it becomingly (P.T., 29).

Gaudium et spes (G.S.) of the the Second Vatican Council, 1965, also lamented the scandal of 
the co-existence of widespread affluence and abject poverty in nations and in the international 
communities. The document condemned the socio-economic imbalance that makes the rich 
grow richer, while the poor languish for lack of the basic necessities of life. It observed that: 
“Never has the human race enjoyed such an abundance of wealth, resources and economic 
power, and yet a huge proportion of the world's citizens are still tormented by hunger and 
poverty, while countless numbers suffer from total illiteracy” (G.S., 4).

It will be recalled that the above observation and statement was made a few years before 
the first crisis of food insecurity in Nigeria hit international news with the outbreak of hunger 

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and malnutrition in the South-East, in 1968, during the Nigeria/Biafra civil war, 1967-1970. 
Thousands of children were starved to death, while the political gladiators of the nation 
scrambled over the control of resources. Caritas Internationalis, the Catholic Relief Agency, 
played a key role in airlifting food and medical supplies to save lives of the starving population 
of South-East Nigeria. According to Ezeh, (2012), Cardinal Francis Arinze affirmed that 
Caritas planes flew into Biafra every night from 1968 to 1970, making as many as 40 flights in 
their best nights.

Unfortunately, hunger and abject poverty have once again resurfaced in Nigeria with a 
high record of 60.9% of the population living below poverty line in 2010, a trend that reached 
the point of declaring Nigeria the world's capital of poverty in 2018 as observed above. The 
empirical study of Ezeh, (2017), has revealed that corrupt practices, violent crimes and social 
injustice are three key factors that impede sustainable development in Nigeria, thus preventing 
millions of its citizens from enjoying the benefits of the nation's rich human and natural 
resources.

In view of this prevailing situation, Christian social teaching is relevant in addressing the 
moral malaise in Nigeria which robs its citizens of their rights to the use and enjoyment of their 
common material goods. Indeed, Christian social teaching carries with it important ethical 
implications and challenges. It demands a reform of lifestyle to reject greed and corruption in 
order to enable everyone to have a healthy and descent standard of living and thus, put a check 
to widespread socio-economic inequality. It challenges the rich to adopt a simple lifestyle that 
uphold fairness in the use of the common good and makes the poor less dependent on charity 
and palliatives. As noted by John Chrysostom: “Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is 
to steal from them and deprive them of life” (Homily 11). Ezeh (2015), has also asserted that a 
reform of lifestyle, in the perspective of Christian social teaching, “transcends mere sharing of 
personal resources with the needy to adopting a lifestyle inclusive of the poor as a responsible 
partner in the common good.”

Furthermore, Christian social teaching demands a reform of structures, laws and 
policies to benefit the poor and thus reduce poverty and inequality. This demands the Nigerian 
government to make laws and evaluate its socio-economic policies from the perspective of 
how they would affect the most vulnerable in the society. According to Paul VI:

It is not just a matter of eliminating hunger, nor even of reducing poverty. The struggle 
against destitution, though urgent and necessary, is not enough. It is a question, rather, of 
building a world where every man and woman, no matter their race, religion or 
nationality, can live a fully human life, freed from servitude imposed on them by other 
people or by natural forces over which they have not sufficient control; a world where 
freedom is not an empty word and where the poor man Lazarus can sit down at the same 
table with the rich man. This demands great generosity, much sacrifice and unceasing 
effort on the part of the rich person (Populorum Progressio, 47).

In the Christian understanding of the problem of poverty and food insecurity, Paul VI calls for 
a heroic Christian spirit of sacrifice and solidarity between the rich and the poor at the 
individual, national and international levels. Christian social teaching is therefore most 
relevant in discussing poverty and food insecurity in contemporary Nigeria because it 
addresses the question of greed, corruption and social injustice which has crippled the 
economy of nations, Nigeria in particular, reinforced inequality and rendered millions poor 
and hungry and advances a reform of lifestyle, policies and structures as panacea. This 
approach is, of course, complements the indispensable role of boosting agricultural revolution 
in curtailing poverty and food insecurity, which has been advocated by the UN Food and 

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12



Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and has been developed in scholarly studies like De Muro and 
Mazziota (2011).

Conclusion
The study has underscored the reality of poverty and food insecurity in Nigeria. It has 
highlighted the ethical dimension of this problem as an unacceptable assault on human dignity 
and an infringement on the fundamental human rights of every person to a healthy life and 
well-being. The paper has also disclosed how the Nigerian successive government policies 
have consistently spent very low fund on the human development sectors of health, education 
and social welfare. Consequently, millions of Nigerians have been subjected to suffer hunger 
and live in extreme poverty, while a few enjoyed the luxury of the nation's oil wealth. 
Furthermore, the paper discussed how Christian social teaching could be relevant in ridding 
the country of greed, corruption and injustice and in awakening the conscience of Nigerians to 
their ethical responsibilities. In view of this, the study has made some useful 
recommendations.

Recommendations
·Nigerian government should increase its GPD spending on the human development 

sectors of health, education and social welfare.
·Social and economic structures should be reformed to enhance justice and equity, and 

make the poor inclusive partners in the use of the common goods of the nation.
·Nigerian citizens, the rich, politicians, the clergy and pastors should reform their lifestyle 

to make the poor less dependent on palliatives and charity.
·Palliatives to the poor by governments, NGOs, Religious bodies and rich individuals 

should serve only as short-term solution.
·Education on social justice should form an integral part of the school curriculum of all 

levels from primary to tertiary institutions.
·All levels of Nigerian governments should sponsor and prioritise farming, while 

Nigerians should revolutionise agriculture.

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