August 26, (THEWILL) – The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria has called on the federal government to urgently address the issues of corruption, poverty and hardship in the country to avoid widespread social and economic crisis.
The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, on Sunday made the call while delivering his welcome address at the opening session of the 2024 Second Plenary Assembly of the CBCN held at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Auchi, Edo State. Ugorji, who is the Archbishop of Owerri, noted that the need to return to a regional system of government became imperative because the problems in the country had gone beyond mere economic reforms and that the present system of government seemed no longer to be working.
He said: “The socio-economic problems of our nation are unmistakably beyond what economic reforms alone can effectively resolve, no matter how well thought-out and how meticulously implemented.
“When all is said and done, we must admit that the cost of running our military imposed presidential system of government with so many elected officials assisted by numerous support staff is staggering and unsustainable.
“We must also acknowledge that the corruption level of many Nigerian politicians have gone beyond scale and measure and that controlling our national resources at the federal government level creates more opportunities for corruption to flourish. “Having experimented on the presidential system of government for over 25 years and having groped in the dark in search of solutions to our socio-economic problems now seems to be the opportune time to heed the advice of some of our best minds canvassing for our return to the former regional system of government as envisage by the wise founding fathers of our nation or devolve power to the present six geo-political zones.”
Ugorji said that while the Bishops acknowledged feats enumerated by President Bola Tinubu on his 4th of August speech, they could not fail to admit that the present state of the nation was worrisome.
He listed the numerous problems bedeviling the nation as increased debt burden of $2.25 billion loan facility from the World Bank in June 2024 with a repayment period of 40 years and which increases Nigeria’s public debt stock by 2.46 percent to $93.7 billion, multiple taxation, hunger and hardship induced by insecurity. He added that proactive steps must be taken urgently to address the situation before it snowballs into a huge crisis.
He called on president Bola Tinubu to revisit his economic policies noting that Nigerians were no longer at ease with them.
politics
