Lagos, 26 January, 2023 / 8:49 pm (ACI Africa).
Catholic Bishops from Nigeria’s Lagos Ecclesiastical Province have decried the instability in the West African nation and said that the country is “sinking quickly”.
The Local Ordinaries of Lagos Archdiocese, Abeokuta, and Ijebu-Ode Dioceses say last year “was particularly trying for most Nigerians as a result of excruciating economic hardship, widespread insecurity, and an unprecedented rise in the level of poverty, all of which made access to the basic necessities of life a herculean task.”
“That the ship of our nation is sinking rapidly is no exaggeration. This is not the same country that was bequeathed to us by our founding fathers,” the Catholic Bishops say in their communiqué issued Wednesday, January 25.
In 2022, the Catholic Bishops say, Nigeria witnessed “an unprecedented rise in cases of insecurity across the country as a result of the activities of terrorists, bandits, and kidnappers who abduct and kill innocent Nigerians on a daily basis, even after collecting ransom for their victims.”
“Members of the clergy have not been spared these wicked and inhuman attacks. Many of our Priests have fallen victim of these attacks, and not a few have been killed in cold blood,” they say, adding that Christians in the country are facing one of their most challenging times since the attainment of independence in 1960.
