“Invest more in youth empowerment”: Catholic Bishops in Nigeria’s Abuja Ecclesiastical Province to Government

They recognize the growth of vocations to the Priesthood reflected in the enrolment at St. Thomas Aquinas’ Major Seminary located in the Nigerian Ecclesiastical Province, and “appeal to good and generous Catholics across the length and breadth of the province to assist in the formation of these seminarians either in cash or kind.”

The Catholic Bishops express their awareness of church establishments bearing the label “Catholic”, when they are note and “paternally advise unsuspecting Catholics to always confirm from their Parish Priests the legitimacy of these churches where they exist.”

In the statement that Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Abuja Archdiocese and Bishop David Ajang of Lafia Diocese cosigned, the Catholic Church leaders also decry economic hardships in Africa’s most populous nation, which they say is seen in the sharp rise in prices of essential commodities.

“We stand in solidarity with those in the lower income bracket and call on the government to expedite actions that would bring long-lasting relief and succor to ordinary Nigerians”, they add.

The Catholic Bishops call upon the country’s politicians “to return to the grass root to identify with the plight of the electorate, especially in these harsh and tough economic times.”

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They go on to decry illegal mining in the Ecclesiastical Province and urge government to “regulate these activities for the good of the local communities.”

Security challenges in their respective Episcopal Sees has contributed to “pastoral setbacks and the displacement of some of our pastoral agents with their parishioners,” Catholic Bishops in the of Ecclesiastical Province of Abuja further lament.

“We passionately appeal to government at all levels to be more proactive and decisive in dealing with this monster that has bedevilled our country as security of lives and properties is its primary statutory responsibility”, they say.

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