The Nigeria Baptist Convention has called on President Bola Tinubu to be decisive and proactive in ameliorating the sufferings of the citizens occasioned by the removal of subsidy on petrol.
The church, while commending the government for taking the decision to remove the subsidy, however, said that all funds being saved should be channeled towards improving the lives and livelihoods of the people in a bid to tackle the hardships in the land.
The president of the Baptist convention in Ekiti state, Revd Adeyinka Aribasoye, spoke at the weekend in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, during the 25th Annual Session and 17th Joint Ordination Service of the Ekiti Baptist Conference, with the theme, ‘Oneness in Love and Synergy.’
Aribasoye said, “The country is being battered by this issue of fuel subsidy removal. The church knows that the common language is that subsidy is a fraud and thanking God for the courage of the new government to remove the fuel subsidy. We know that if this country must move forward, that subsidy must go.
“The suffering is biting harder by the day. The government should be more proactive. They are earning more revenue through this fuel subsidy removal. They should not hoard the money. They should spend it judiciously and make more moves to alleviate this hardship.”
According to him, the theme of the convention was chosen to foster unity and progress among the Baptist faith, win souls for Christ, and extend the message of unity to the country.
“This is the 25th annual session of Ekiti Baptist. Our central theme for the session is ‘Oneness in Love and Synergy.’ The text is taken from John 13:35, where Jesus was challenging his followers to love one another as himself as the Father loves themselves.
“We are bringing in this because in the church, divided we fall, united we stand. If we are able to work as an entity, there is a great deal we can make for Christ, for the field is ripe, but the harvesters are few, and that is why we came up with the theme to be able to win souls for Christ,” he added.
Aribasoye went further to call on secessionists in the country to embrace unity, adding that the church is taking the lead in preaching oneness and synergy among the citizens.
