From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Archdiocese, Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, has backed the political agenda of the Labour Party’s candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, for the 2023 presidential elections.
Obi has repeatedly said in different fora that his political agenda, among other things, is to move Nigeria from a consuming nation to a producing nation, which will in turn, create job opportunities for millions of Nigerians, as well as wealth, and also boost the economy of Nigeria and return the country in the path of growth and development.
Archbishop Kaigama, in a homily, delivered on Sunday, at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Wuse, Abuja, challenged Nigerians to join the growing call for return of Nigeria to a producing nation instead of consuming nation.
He said: “As Christians, our light can only shine through our good deeds, hence we are expected to do good to others, even when it costs us suffering. The prophet showed us that God always answer the prayers of those who are generous and heal them in their own moments of pains and misery. We need more generous and selfless people in our country to fix the issue of poverty complicated by corruption.
“It is mind boggling that in many parts of Nigeria, many people are living in great poverty. Yet, we see the display of affluence by the few who have access to public funds or during electoral campaigns, when they play with money, completely oblivious to the suffering of Nigerians.
“The gap between ‘the high and mighty’ and ‘the low and downtrodden’ keeps widening. OXFAM reported recently that three persons in Nigeria are wealthier than 83 million Nigerians put together!
“However, in this month of election when the political climate is getting heated up, those aspiring to occupy political offices must be convinced that when they win, they will use their positions to bring relief to the needy, liberate the poor from poverty which is largely at the root of our insecurity and violence.
“They should revisit the question on why Nigeria is good in consuming but very poor in production. Other than oil what else do we export? But we import everything ranging from toothpick, matches, shoe polish, pencils to soft drinks. We have a poor production culture, which explains why our groundnut, cocoa and cotton related industries have collapsed. We cannot even refine our oil to meet our domestic needs.”
He appreciated the Parish Priest and Vicar for Pastoral Areas, Fr. Francis Kale; his assistant, Rev. Fr. Peter Ogu; the resident Priest, Rev. Fr. Solomon Dankaro; the Parish Pastoral council, and all the parishioners of Holy Rosary Parish, Wuse, Abuja.
“Our liturgy challenges us to be good, committed, faithful and active Christians through our words, actions and interactions. We are expected to be ‘salt of the earth’ and ‘light of the world’,” he urged them.