By Sunday Etuka, Abuja
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah has said that as part of national healing, the Federal Government must come up with a robust template, including the deliberate policy of inclusion that will drastically end the immoral culture of nepotism, Feudalism, and Prebendalism in the country.
Bishop Kukah gave the advice in his Easter and National Message to all Nigerians, especially the Christian Faithful.
He said, the government must design a more comprehensive and wide-ranging method of recruitment that is transparent as a means of generating patriotism and reversing the ugly face of feudalism and prebendalism.
He further stated that there is a need for a clear communications strategy that would serve to inspire and create timelines of expectations of results from policies.
“There is a need for clarity over questions of the Who, What, When, and How national set goals are to be attained and who can be held accountable. This will take us away from the current Communications-by-announcement-of-appointments policies as if this is all that government is doing”, he added.
The revered Bishop also advised the government to reconsider the decision of spreading the Military across all 36 states and Abuja, as it has consequences both for its professionalism, its integrity, and its perceived role in protecting society.
“It is difficult to fathom our current situation regarding the ubiquity of the military in our national life. It is impossible to explain how we can say we are in a civilian Democracy with the military literally looking like an army of occupation with an octopussean spread across all the 36 states and Abuja.
“No other person than the immediate past Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor who recently referred to the military as facing the dilemma of what he called, see finish.
“It is now difficult to say whether the persistence of insecurity is a cause or a consequence of military ubiquity. Trillions of Naira continue to go into bottomless pits with little measurable benefits.
“Our military’s professionalism cannot be diluted by the recruitment of hunters, vigilante groups, and other unprofessional and untrained groups. This is not sustainable because it leaves the military open to ridicule and perceptions of surrender.
“Fighting insecurity is now an enterprise. I believe our security men and women can defeat these criminals in a matter of months”, he said.
He applauded the government’s announcement to treat kidnapping and banditry as acts of terrorism, urging for a definite date line to achieve it.
“Without a timeline for eliminating these evil, despicable, malevolent and execrable demons from among us, our future as a people will be imperilled”, he said.
Kukah also commended the government over its promise to stop paying ransom to bandits and kidnappers. However, he noted that merely going to the forest and returning with victims leaves the government open to suspicion from citizens.
“The government needs to show results of a well-coordinated plan and time lines to bring back all citizens in captivity and give us back our country”, he said.
He encouraged the President to continue on the path of probity, to take further steps to cut down the overbearing costs of governance, and to put in place more comprehensive plans towards achieving both food and physical security across our nation.
“Merely distributing money through already corruption-riddled structures is not enough and diminishes the dignity of our citizens.
No one needs to line up to receive aid when we are not in a war. Give our people back their farms and develop a comprehensive agricultural plan to put our country back on the path of honour and human dignity”, he said.
In conclusion, the Sokoto Bishop said, “there are tough times ahead. Politics alone will not change the fate of our country, neither will all the right economic policies or positive ratings by the world’s agencies. We need to do more.
“Nigeria has lost its soul and the evidence lies before us all. The mindless corruption and debauchery in high places is merely a symptom of a deeper rot. It is not the real disease. We must recover our lost soul.
“Christians cannot discount our high moral values simply because, this is Nigeria and, things are hard or everyone is doing this or that”, he noted.
