Cleric tasks community leaders on protection of critical infrastructure
By Bridget Ikyado
The Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) ,Bishop Henry Ndukuba has urged traditional and religious leaders to champion the protection of critical infrastructure in their locality.
Ndukuba made the call in an interview with newsmen on the sidelines of the ongoing pastoral visit at the Cathedral Church of Advent Life Camp on Sunday.
The cleric who was reacting to the increasing vandalisation of government properties across the country, urged the citizens to rise to the occasion and defend “our collective property.”
“I want to encourage traditional and community leaders, those who are guidance of our culture and values to rise up to this.
“We want to call on the citizens; when citizens turn against themselves, it is terrible especially when we destroy critical infrastructure of the nation which money has been expended to put in place.
“We citizens need to become guardians of this nation; in Swisszerland you will not see police and the military around but citizens themselves help detect when thins are gong wrong and help to correct it to see that their society is safe.
“It is good we work with the law enforcement agencies as citizens of this nation to support the work of the government and Labour together.
“Let us own this nation, some people feel some one the country and others are just following behind, no, this country belongs to all us and we are all stakeholders and this nation belong to all of is.
“Therefore let us defend the things that we have and not destroy them, let us work together to build peace in our communities and when we do that, this nation will rise up to the greatness for which God has created for it,” he said.
Ndukuba, however, challenged the leadership of the nation, both political and religious to live in truth and by example in honouring God.
“We thank God that the new administration is making some progress but the people are really going through the grind.
“Though they have promised that the monies realised from the removal of the fuel subsidy will be used in the development of our nation, we are yet to see any thing coming forth.
“We want to really know how much we are saving from the removal of subsidy, how much is accruing to this nation and how are they going to use them,” he said.
The cleric warned political and religious leaders to be mindful of their utterances and be careful not to set the nation ablaze.
Ndukuba said there is no reason why any person, group or region be threatened because of the opinion they hold or their political and religious affiliations.
He called on all relevant stakeholders to work in unity to build a nation where peace, justice and equity reign and put suffering to an end.
According Ndukuba, our problems in this country are manmade and we can decide to turn things around with the help of God.
The bishop said that there must be a change of heart and a shift in the paradigm to build a desired country.
