STATE OF THE NATION: Catholic Bishops Urge FG To Reflect Ethnic,Religious Diversities In Appointments

The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria has said that the “ethno-religious favouritism” playing out in federal government appointments must be done away with for the corporate development of the country.

The cleric, in a communique issued by Most Rev. Augustine Obiora Akubeze, explained that it will take equity in politics and developmental strides for every aspect of the Nigerian project to witness positive transformation.

“We, therefore, call on governments at all levels to respect and protect people’s fundamental rights and shun all forms of ethno-religious favouritism. We also urge political office holders to embrace a better kind of politics by proper application of the principles of equity and subsidiarity for programmes of development; and by ‘promoting an economy that favours productive diversity for job creation’ in the interest of respect for human dignity (FT 168 & 175). We encourage all citizens to participate in the forthcoming national population census exercise to help Government have the data needed for proper policies that will aid development,” the communique partly read on Thursday after its first plenary for the year 2022.

Making further observations on the state of the nation, the CBCN lamented that appointments to public service institutions in Nigeria does not actually reflect the ethnic and geographic diversities of the nation.

It also advised the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to quickly resolve their issues so that lecturers can resume lecturing.

“In our nation today, we observe that there is no evident fairness in the distribution of social amenities or in making appointments to offices despite the Federal Character principle enshrined in the Constitution. There is also no functional, stable, qualitative and affordable educational system that should be the bedrock of development.

“Currently, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is on strike with the consequent closure of our public universities, thereby leaving our young people roaming the streets. We urge the Federal Government to quickly and permanently settle the dispute in the interest of human and national growth,” the cleric added.