Easter: Come Up With Template On National Healing – Bishop Kukah Tells FG

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BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah has tasked the federal government to come up with a robust template for how it wishes to reverse and put Nigeria on a path of national healing.

Kukah said the template must include a deliberate policy of inclusion that will drastically end the immoral culture of nepotism, adding that 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.

This was as he noted that for over 60 years, Nigerian leaders have looked like men in a drunken stupor, staggering, stumbling and fumbling, slurring in speech, with blurred visions searching for the way home.
Bishop Kukah, who stated these in his Easter message on Sunday, March 31, 2024, also said that there is need for a clear communications strategy that will serve to inspire and create time-lines of expectations of results from policies.

In his words; “There is 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.

“Second, the notion of rejigging the security architecture is a hackneyed cliché that is now at best, an oxymoron. 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.

“This has very serious consequences both for its professionalism, its integrity and perceived role in protecting society. 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. All we hear and see are fingers pointing to the top. No, this must end. The alternative is too frightening to contemplate. The time was yesterday, but today is still possible,” he said.

The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese further said that the corruption of the years of a life of immoral and sordid debauchery have spread like a cancer destroying all Nigeria’s vital organs, stressing that the result is a state of a hangover that has left the nation comatose.

Kukah however, said that notwithstanding, Easter is a time to further reflect on the road not taken, adding that it is a time to see if the Golgotha of pain can lead Nigerians to the new dawn of the Resurrection.

He said; “Nigeria can and Nigeria will be great again. Let us ride this tide together in hope.

“Many Nigerians are wondering and asking questions such as, what time of day is it? Where are we? How did we get here? Where is here? Where are we going? How long do we still have to travel and are there any map readers to tell us if we are on the right path?

“Neither I nor anyone can answer all these questions, but together, we can think through them. Let us not all pretend to be ignorant. It is not so much who knows what. It is rather a matter of accepting the challenges, having the honesty to ask the most difficult questions, and holding each other accountable.

“In this way, the road may be long, but it will be easier to travel together in faith and confidence,” he said.

The Catholic Bishop said there are tough times ahead, stressing that 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.

Kukah said we need to do more, even as he observed that Nigeria has lost its soul, saying that the evidence lies before us all.

In his words; “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”.

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