Abuja, 24 April, 2021 / 7:05 pm (ACI Africa).
Young people in Nigeria are leaving the West African nation in large numbers in search for “greener pastures” elsewhere, a situation the Archbishop of the country’s Abuja Archdiocese blames on insecurity, poverty, and high levels of corruption by those in leadership positions.
In his homily on the third Sunday of Easter, April 18, Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama compared the departure of most youth out of Africa’s most populous country to that of the two disciples who embarked “on a sad journey to Emmaus” after the death of Jesus.
“Today, our collective and individual experiences in Nigeria have forced especially some of our youth to embark on a sad journey to ‘Emmaus’ in the diaspora, with the hope of finding greener pastures,” Archbishop Kaigama said.
He added that the youth “are driven away from where they call home by an inhospitable social environment of corrupt governance, which robs them of their rights and privileges, as well as a high insecurity as manifested in the daily killings, kidnappings, etc.”
“Like the disciples of Emmaus, who said ‘we had hoped…’” the Archbishop said in reference to the Sunday Gospel reading, “our youths had hoped for a better country, a nation meeting their material and social needs, but their hopes seem to be dashed by poor governance and the insensitivity of leaders to issues of equity and merit.”