Catholic Bishop of Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, has urged the Federal Government to come up with a robust template for reversing and putting Nigeria on a path of national healing, including a deliberate policy of inclusion that will end the immoral culture of nepotism in the country.
According to him, 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 face of feudalism and prebendalism.
In his Easter message, entitled: ‘A Time To Heal’, Kukah lamented that we were in one of the most difficult phases of our national life, though expressed optimism that the country would heal from the scars of hunger and destitution, and that the wounds of physical and psychological violence would heal.
Quoting Bishop Fulton Sheen, in his timeless book, Life of Christ, Kukah stated: “There are only two philosophies of life. One is the feast and then the hangover, the other, the fast and then the feast.”
The Nigerian dream has turned into a nightmare over the years because our leaders chose the feast rather than the fast.”
Then Kukah noted: “We are, today, reaping what we sowed yesterday. For over 60 years, our leaders have looked like men in a drunken stupor, staggering, stumbling and fumbling, slurring in speech, with blurred visions searching for the way home. Years of immoral and sordid debauchery have spread like a cancer destroying all our vital organs. The result is a state of a hangover that has left our nation comatose.
“Notwithstanding, Easter is a time to further reflect on the road not taken. It is a time to see if this Golgotha of pain can lead us to the new dawn of the Resurrection. Nigeria can and 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.”
According to the cleric, the evil that we see around us is a consequence, not a cause, as we have relied on tools of social sciences to create all kinds of doomsday scenarios about the impending end of Nigeria.
