As the National Council of State passes vote of confidence in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for performing to the administration of its members amid biting economic hardship in the country, Catholic Bishops of Nigeria differ sharply
By Udoka Ekeleme, Abuja
The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), has appealed to the federal government to listen to the yearnings of the masses and take a holistic review of its economic policies and programmes to take Nigerians out of the multi-dimensional poverty situation they are currently enmeshed in.
President of CBCN, Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, who made the appeal while delivering a homily during the ordination of 11 priests at Maria Assumpta Cathedral, Owerri, linked the depressing poverty level in the land to the withdrawal of fuel subsidy and floatation of the naira. This is even as the National Council of State passed a vote of confidence on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for performing effectively in governance.
Ugorji said: “The President of any country ought to be a listening and compassionate leader. I don’t want to talk about the hunger protest in detail but we cannot continue to keep quiet.
“Credible reports have it that the protest has claimed so many lives and caused properties worth millions of naira, to be destroyed or looted. We do not know how many people that will die in the days ahead, if the protest continues.
“In protesting, the people were just exercising their constitutional right by assembling and expressing their feelings of anger and concern over bad governance in the country.
“It is obvious that people do not only march on the streets to express their anger, but also engage in other actions. Indeed, it remains a truism that action speaks louder than words.
“Despite all petitions and pleas, our young people decided to go to the streets to say they are dying of hunger and hardship. It is a very serious matter and government should see it as such. The protesters, by their actions, also demanded attentive listening to what they are saying.
“To listen to what the youngsters are saying, government should rely on the prevailing amount of rising prices of everything needed for living.”
Taking a critical look at the free fall of the nation’s currency, Archbishop Ugorji said: “This is another of President Tinubu’s economic policy that has sadly degenerated to hyperinflation.
“Floating of the nation’s currency amounts to devaluation of the naira. The President removed fuel subsidy and surreptitiously devalued the naira.
“He devalued the currency used in paying workers and still want the workers to continue to work at the same amount that was agreed when the naira had a higher value.
“When the President removed petroleum subsidy, he should have been aware that it will come with ugly consequences because everything revolves around transportation.
“Government ought to have known that production of goods and services largely relies on fuel. Currently, the prices of everything have risen astronomically and people have been reduced to multi-dimensional poverty. Simply explained, poverty means not having access to what you need to survive each day.”
Stretching the argument further, the CBCN President opined that “food may be available but definitely not affordable.”
He said: “In this day and age, people can no longer afford things they are used to and the standard of living has drastically reduced to zero per cent.
“I am adding my voice to the voices of those who have already called on the President to address the demands of the young people, for peace to reign.
“If government says they are listening to the people, then it should immediately address these problems.
“We are also told that government is trying to cushion the effect of the current hardship by distributing palliatives and remittance of money into people’s bank accounts. I don’t know how many people that have received it.”
However, former Nigerian leaders, General Yakubu Gowon, Muhammadu Buhari, Goodluck Jonathan, and General Abdulsalami Abubakar, last week passed a vote of confidence in President Bola Tinubu’s leadership of the nation and declared readiness to resist any attempt at an unconstitutional change of government.
This was the outcome of the National Council of State meeting, which President Tinubu presided over at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The council comprises the President as chairman and Vice President as deputy chairman, all living former Heads of State and Presidents, all former Chief Justices of Nigeria, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, all state governors and Attorney-General of the Federation as members.
It is an organ of the federal government saddled with the responsibility of advising the executive on policy making.
Both former Presidents Buhari and Jonathan attended the meeting physically, and General Gowon and Abubakar joined virtually.
However, Olusegun Obasanjo and General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida were absent.
Rising from the closed-door meeting that lasted several hours, AbdulRahman Abdul-Razaq, the Governor of Kwara State and the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), said the council unanimously passed a vote of confidence in Tinubu for the way he has governed the country. He said the council also expressed satisfaction with the ministers’ presentations on the economy’s progress.
“Members, especially those of the NGF, were satisfied with the presentation by the members of the Federal Executive Council, and after that meeting, there was an executive session between members of the NGF and Mr President.
“Frank and fruitful discussions were held between both parties, and I’m glad to say we’re on the right track. In the same vein, members of the NGF, like the members of the Council of State, also passed a vote of confidence in Mr President. We also wished him well and prayed for God’s guidance.”
