The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has condemned the Federal Government’s handling of the recent protests, calling for an immediate end to hunger and bad governance in the country.
The church’s bishops, who met in Abuja on Tuesday, criticized the government’s insensitivity to the plight of citizens and its failure to address the root causes of the protests.
They also condemned the killing of protesters by security agents and called for the training and retraining of security forces.
In a statement issued at the end of the House of Bishops meeting by the Primate and Metropolitan of the Church, the Most Rev’d Dr. Henry C. Ndukuba, and the Rt. Rev’d Dr. Williams Aladekugbe, Episcopal Secretary, the bishops said: “The protest is a clarion call to governments at all levels, especially the federal, to heed the cry of the people, and not scapegoat anyone as no government can legislate or stop people who are hungry from protesting.
“We strongly condemn the killing of some protesters by the security agents and call for the training and retraining of our security forces on the acceptable standards of engagement in matters like this.
“We urge the government to quickly sit down, seriously discuss the demands of the protesters, and come out with immediate, short-term, and long-term measures to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians.”
The bishops further expressed concern over the rising cases of kidnapping and banditry and urged the government to take decisive action to ensure security and food security in the country.
They commended the recent Supreme Court judgment granting autonomy to local government areas and called for effective implementation.
The church leaders also praised President Bola Tinubu’s condemnation of #IgboMustGo xenophobic tendencies but urged him to take concrete actions to address the issue.
“Mere condemnation of xenophobia without holding the purveyors, some of whom are known, to account, belies the seriousness of government readiness to combat such odious incitements,” they said.
On the economy, the Anglican Bishops called for an emergency economic summit to address the country’s economic crisis.
They said, “We must spare no effort to ensure food security in this country to avoid future citizens’ uprisings. Every Nigerian should be involved in agriculture in whatever scale possible. State and local governments should encourage farmers by providing materials and agro-services that will help boost yields.
“We call for an emergency economic summit that will bring credible Nigerians across the board together to chart a new course that will put this country on a sound economic footing.”
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