Catholic bishops urge FG to address suffering

Archbishop of Kaduna, Most Rev. Mathew Ndogoso, has urged the Federal Government to address the growing hardship in the country.

He said the situation is fueling illegal migration and the growing human trafficking involving the citizens.

Ndogoso told journalists at the 1st African Regional Conference of Sancta Marta Group in Abuja, that there is no way security agencies working with good intelligence cannot track down human traffickers.

He alleged: “Unfortunately, some of the security personnel have compromised, and are in partnership with those who commit this heinous crime against Nigerians.”

He explained that with good intelligence, sophisticated drones and other tracking devices, trafficking could be stopped in Nigeria.

“The traffickers are not ghosts, they are human beings, and there’s no way Nigeria security agencies cannot stop human trafficking. It may be difficult, but it us not impossible.”

He said: “The hardship in the country is part of the reasons Nigerians are doing everything to leave the country.

“I have been a priest for 33 years and I have never seen Nigerians suffer the way they are currently in misery now.”

Also, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Archbishop Augustine Akabueze, supported that poverty in the land has made Nigerians vulnerable to traffickers.

Also speaking, Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, stressed the need to put human trafficking within the context of human mobility.

He said the real problem is that when people want to move and cannot move easily and properly, they go through the back door, and in the process, they fall into the hands of traffickers for help.

While noting that people who are trafficked often pay heavily, including selling property to migrate, he stressed that if government could make the country better, with good jobs for everybody, there would be no need to travel abroad to make quick money.

While citing the issue of minimum wage, he said it was of great concern that those already working are calling for an increase, while no one blinks about graduates who are unemployed.

“We need to do a lot to change the way things are in Nigeria, and also change our attitudes, even as the lack of patience is forcing ambitious Nigerians to get rich quick,” he added.