Emmanuel Awari, Jalingo
The Catholic Bishop of Wukari Diocese, Taraba State, Bishop Mark Nzukwen has kicked against the use of force by the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS in resolving the coup in Niger Republic.
The Clergy express his feelings while speaking with Newsmen.
“If we want to tell ourselves the truth, then we must agree that we have not gotten it right when it comes to embracing and living the democratic culture that we inherited from the West.
“It is not a culture we are familiar with even though it is believed to be the best form of government that will address our problems. Unfortunately we are not getting it right.
“From one country to another, we are not living up to the expectations of democracy. That is why you are seeing the phenomenal of coup d’etat in Africa.
“In the specific case of Niger republic, the people celebrated the coup because the civilian administration there was not meeting their needs of the people, just as we have here in Nigeria.
“So if the people are happy with the military take over, it means the Democratic system failed them. So, what is the business of Nigeria in Niger when we have serious issues with our own democracy? Infact, some people are even of the opinion that the present administration in Nigeria also came in through a civilian coup because people argue that a lot of things went wrong during the election and the processing of the results and that is why people are still in court contesting the process – he said.
He advised the Nigerian government not to be in a hurry to take any serious action in Niger.
“We must tread with caution, even though the President is the Chairman of ECOWAS. They should put their house in order before contemplating an action in another country. In any case, I will never support a military solution to this problem. It is never the best.
“I will rather advocate for dialogue and negotiations. If Nigerian government and the ECOWAS is insisting that something is wrong in Niger but the people are happy what is giving us cause for worry, taking any military action may be very detrimental as you will need the support of the people you want to liberate or so to say, to be able to execute the operation anyway.
On Nigerian politics, he said,
“Nigeria as a country is a circular state, in the sense that it is yet to adopt any religion as the national religion.
“For the Catholic Church, we are all humans and so we participate in politics. However, partisan politics is the exclusive preserve of the laity. The clergy are supposed to be a political. However, the Church has a role to play on conscientising people to participate actively in partizan politics because if the people do not participate, they will not know what is there.
“They will not have the opportunity to bring the Christian values of justice and peace, truth and fairness and inclusiveness as well as promoting the common good of everyone to bear in the political landscape. So the Church encourages the laity to go into politics so that they can sanitize it. If the good people do not go into politics, it means the bad ones will have a field day and the circle of afflictions will continue. It means they will continue to do the nonsense things they are doing in this country.
“So the Catholic Church encourages the laity to get actively involved so that they can change things for good. So basically, there is a relationship between the Church and politics in the sense that the Church is dealing with people who are political beings and so must get involved to some extent especially in terms of sensitization.
According to him, Nigeria is supposed to be the giant of Africa and that requires that things are done rightly and with consideration to everyone.
“Unfortunately, some people politicize even issues of religion and it is of great concern. For instance, the constitution of Nigeria emphasis the circularity of the country. But then some leaders deliberately or otherwise do not understand the concept of circularity, explore the opportunity they have to undermine that status. That is why you have a situation where people lawlessly murder others in mob actions in defense of a portion of their religion.
” There is no respect for other people’s religious tenets. It is unfortunate. That is why it is very important for the constitution to be thoroughly reviewed so that some of these issues can be addressed.
“I would also expect the media to step up their watch and objective tackling of the issues.
The Clergy disclose that the value systems of Nigerians is deteriorating very fast especially among the young persons. He gave reasons and the way forward, saying:
“Generally, every sector of the Nigerian system is collapsing and so the value systems or morality is no exceptions. In the past, the elders were the reservoirs of moral treasures and the younger ones usually looked up to them for moral directions.
“Unfortunately, the younger ones can not also look up to the elders for moral directions because the elders have also compromised their value standards. We have a democratic system where service is no longer a priority.
“We have a system where the elders have shown the younger generation that integrity is no longer something to hold in high esteem. Good name is suddenly despicable.
“The only thing that counts is power and wealth. And so people are more concerned with acquiring wealth and power and can openly engage in national disgrace on national television without a molecule of shame.
“So far as there is money, respect can be bought or coerced. Traditional and religious rulers now go to pay homage to political leaders for a share of the national cake and a show of loyalty. It is a travesty. How do you expect a traditional leader who goes cap in hand to the politician to challenge them when they go wrong? And the younger generations are watching.
“So it is an unfortunate circle. The family which is supposed to be the holy grail of moral upbringing is also not helping matters much.
According to him, there is a dangerous disconnect between the parents and their children because people pay more attention to their careers and businesses than the family.
“Unfortunately, the general economic downturn has left most families with no choice than to leave each family members to fend for themselves. It really doesn’t matter much if they resort to criminal acts to make ends meet. In terms of education, previously, there was keen supervision of the school system to ensure that that the teachers do the right thing and students were impacted positively. That is no longer tenable.
“One of the most terrible things now is the social media and it’s uncontrolled usage. Despite it’s huge advantages for growth and propagation of positive values, it’s uncontrolled usage also means that people have access to all sorts of information and content.
“These days, young persons are very comfortable posting nudity and other harmful contents just to gain social media popularity. Again, and sadly so, the parents are too busy to monitor the activities of their children on these platforms.
“If you can buy a smartphone for your child, is it too much to at least check in once in a while to monitor what they do with the phones? So it’s very unfortunate but basically, we need to go back to the ancient ways, embrace our value systems, path attention to the family and upbringing of the children even as we strive hard to be living models of moral uprightness for the younger generations.
On involment of the Church in Politics, he said,
“Nigeria as a country is a circular state, in the sense that it is yet to adopt any religion as the national religion. For the Catholic Church, we are all humans and so we participate in politics. However, partisan politics is the exclusive preserve of the laity.
“The clergy are supposed to be a political. However, the Church has a role to play on conscientising people to participate actively in partizan politics because if the people do not participate, they will not know what is there.
“They will not have the opportunity to bring the Christian values of justice and peace, truth and fairness and inclusiveness as well as promoting the common good of everyone to bear in the political landscape.
“So the Church encourages the laity to go into politics so that they can sanitize it. If the good people do not go into politics, it means the bad ones will have a field day and the circle of afflictions will continue. It means they will continue to do the nonsense things they are doing in this country.
“So the Catholic Church encourages the laity to get actively involved so that they can change things for good. So basically, there is a relationship between the Church and politics in the sense that the Church is dealing with people who are political beings and so must get involved to some extent especially in terms of sensitization.
“Nigeria is supposed to be the giant of Africa and that requires that things are done rightly and with consideration to everyone. Unfortunately, some people politicize even issues of religion and it is of great concern.
“For instance, the constitution of Nigeria emphasis the circularity of the country. But then some leaders deliberately or otherwise do not understand the concept of circularity, explore the opportunity they have to undermine that status. That is why you have a situation where people lawlessly murder others in mob actions in defense of a portion of their religion. There is no respect for other people’s religious tenets. It is unfortunate. That is why it is very important for the constitution to be thoroughly reviewed so that some of these issues can be addressed. I would also expect the media to step up their watch and objective tackling of the issues.
According to him, the value systems of Nigerians is deteriorating very fast especially among the young persons.
“Generally, every sector of the Nigerian system is collapsing and so the value systems or morality is no exceptions. In the past, the elders were the reservoirs of moral treasures and the younger ones usually looked up to them for moral directions. Unfortunately, the younger ones can not also look up to the elders for moral directions because the elders have also compromised their value standards. We have a democratic system where service is no longer a priority. We have a system where the elders have shown the younger generation that integrity is no longer something to hold in high esteem. Good name is suddenly despicable. The only thing that counts is power and wealth.
“And so people are more concerned with acquiring wealth and power and can openly engage in national disgrace on national television without a molecule of shame. So far as there is money, respect can be bought or coerced. Traditional and religious rulers now go to pay homage to political leaders for a share of the national cake and a show of loyalty. It is a travesty. How do you expect a traditional leader who goes cap in hand to the politician to challenge them when they go wrong? And the younger generations are watching.
” So it is an unfortunate circle. The family which is supposed to be the holy grail of moral upbringing is also not helping matters much. There is a dangerous disconnect between the parents and their children because people pay more attention to their careers and businesses than the family. Unfortunately, the general economic downturn has left most families with no choice than to leave each family members to fend for themselves. It really doesn’t matter much if they resort to criminal acts to make ends meet. In terms of education, previously, there was keen supervision of the school system to ensure that that the teachers do the right thing and students were impacted positively.
“That is no longer tenable. One of the most terrible things now is the social media and it’s uncontrolled usage. Despite it’s huge advantages for growth and propagation of positive values, it’s uncontrolled usage also means that people have access to all sorts of information and content. These days, young persons are very comfortable posting nudity and other harmful contents just to gain social media popularity. Again, and sadly so, the parents are too busy to monitor the activities of their children on these platforms. If you can buy a smartphone for your child, is it too much to at least check in once in a while to monitor what they do with the phones? So it’s very unfortunate but basically, we need to go back to the ancient ways, embrace our value systems, path attention to the family and upbringing of the children even as we strive hard to be living models of moral uprightness for the younger generations – he said.