Catholic Bishops have asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the federal government to take urgent steps to address insecurity and economic hardship in the country, saying “the ship of the nation is foundering.”
The Bishops of the Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province, in a communiqué issued at the end of their first meeting in 2024, held at the Jubilee Conference Centre, Oke Ado, Ibadan, observed that “day-to-day living is fast becoming an ordeal for millions of Nigerians because pervasive poverty, driven by the harsh environment has driven many to desperation and even suicide.”
In the communiqué signed by their Chairman, Most Reverend ‘Leke Gabriel Abegunrin and Secretary, Most Reverend John Akin Oyejola, the bishops lamented the insecurity and economic hardship in the country, saying “our dear country Nigeria is fast becoming a hostile killing field.”
The Bishops of Ibadan Archdiocese, Ilorin, Ondo, Oyo, Ekiti and Osogbo Dioceses regretted that “Nigeria is fast becoming a hostile killing field,” noting that “the ship of the nation is foundering under the weight of pervasive insecurity, economic hardship due to hyperinflation and the collapse of the Naira; cybercrime, high cost of food, lackadaisical governance and widespread corruption.”
According to the clerics, it would be “nothing short of hypocritical to put all the misery being suffered by Nigerians today down to change in world economy” and contended that “often, Nigerians are simply left to their own devices and left at the mercy of the most cruel and aggressive criminals by inept and selfish political and civil leaders.”
The Catholic Bishops admonished Nigerian leaders “who talk and behave as if all is well to have a change of heart” because “there is cause for alarm when corruption runs riot in every sector with scant effort from government to arrest and prosecute perpetrators.”
The communiqué added that “things are not under control” when Nigerians get maimed, kidnapped and killed daily on our roads and even in their homes, and charged the government to restructure of the country’s security apparatus “and remove saboteurs where necessary so that the security agencies can collaborate and perform optimally.”
They also advised the government to upgrade its activities, saying: “Government must upgrade the ongoing ‘governance by palliatives’ to governance that promotes productivity, accountability and which provides essential infrastructure like power supply and jobs for the populace.”
The clerics said “this would be an effective way to limit the ‘japa syndrome’, which is the forced exodus of our best brains from our shores to greener pastures.”
The clerics also advised the government to do away with “insensitive aides who furnish the public with lies and innuendos in order to mitigate government failure in the face of the recurring disasters,” and demanded that “Nigerians deserve to know the truth about their leaders’ programmes, activities and whereabouts.”
They pleaded for urgent action from all of leaders to save the Nigerian ship from sinking, regretting that “the much vaunted renewed hope is turning to utter desperation in many places and there is no much time left.”
The clerics also thanked “a few among the country’s leaders who are clearly doing their best to make a change for better in their various capacities” and prayed for abiding peace and prosperity for the country.
