The Federal Government was charged by the Catholic Church yesterday with providing food subsidies and ceasing to provide palliative care to a select few people for their own selfish objectives.
When meeting with reporters at the Justice, Development, and Peace Commission in Ibadan, the church made the plea through Archbishop Gabriel Leke Abegunrin of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan.
According to the cleric, it would be preferable if the government subsidized the pricey food items in the markets to make them affordable for the public, rather than providing palliatives to a select few who would then convert them to private usage.
“If the food items are subsidized, they will go around and eventually reach Nigerians,” stated Abegunrin. Palliative care is frequently mentioned, but we never actually witness it. We believe that all state residents should be eligible for the social welfare program.
“We would also like to see funds designated for the public good used for that purpose, rather than the never-ending barrage of charges and counter-charges that our political leaders persist in making within the hallowed chambers.”
With the former Registrar of the University of Ibadan, Mrs. Moji Ladipo, the Coordinator of the JDPC, Rev. Jerome Ajakaye, and other church clerics surrounding him, Archbishop Abegunrin stated that the economic crisis is made worse by the connection between the National Identification Number (NIN) and the Bank Verification Number (BVN).
“The government may have had good intentions, but the implementation has caused a great deal of distress and anxiety,” he stated. The banking industry must not once more be perceived as inflicting suffering and worry to citizens who desire simple access to their money in the wake of the cashless policy and the Naira shortage in 2023.
He claimed that the Federal Government is deceiving Nigerians about the increasing wave of kidnappings and banditry.
He remarked, "They previously claimed to have discovered the people funding banditry, but they were unable to prosecute them. Since aberrant behavior is frequently the result of economic distress, many communities have turned to community police, particularly at night.
"It is the responsibility of the government to guarantee that everyone in the state is protected by the state’s numerous security groups. If this isn’t there, people will turn to jungle justice, as the past few years have shown.
The government was once again called upon by the church to return schools to the churches that owned them.
"The reopening of these schools is finally necessary. Findings from numerous Catholic schools across the country support this. The state will benefit if and when schools are given back to their original proprietors because of her history of academic achievement, holistic education, and youth development.