The Archbishop who, this year, celebrated the 39th anniversary of his Priesthood and the 25th anniversary of his ordination as a Bishop expressed his appreciation to the journalists who, he said, had remained committed in disseminating messages of hope amid the challenges of the pandemic.
“Permit me to commend and thank you from the depth of my heart for your collaboration so far,” he said, and added, “I appreciate your use of the powerful instruments of social communication to enlighten Nigerians and to amplify our messages of hope and courage especially as the deadly coronavirus continues its devastating attacks on us without discrimination.”
Archbishop Kaigama who celebrated his 62nd birthday Friday, July 31 on the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, his Patron Saint urged the members of the fourth estate to turn into policy and practice the positive experiences such as the sense of solidarity, selflessness and community, which he said are being garnered during the pandemic.
He further reminded the journalists to continue pointing out social evils that have for years, kept the country to its knees.
“The all too familiar bad news about social maladies such as embezzlement of public funds, kidnapping, banditry, militancy, unemployment, cybercrime, immorality, violence and killings are still with us. We must ask the question whether all these leave our youths with any decent future,” he said.
According to the Nigerian Archbishop, the pandemic has uncovered the social ills that the country was already grappling with, including a weak health system that he says has been unable to handle COVID-19 infections in the country.
Archbishop Kaigama who recently bemoaned reports of “pervasive corruption” in Nigeria, terming the practices as scandalous, mind boggling, “terribly worrisome and unfortunate” appealed to the government to ensure equitable distribution of resources, including donations from outside the country and the proceeds from salary cuts.
Some of the funds, he said, should come from previous extravagant expenditures and what had been “looted” from government coffers. He said the funds should then be channeled into provision of the much-needed public amenities as well as help schools’ transition to online classes.
“The needed funds could come from the generous donations received, part sacrifice of salaries and earnings, savings from the humongous cost of governance, part of funds lavishly used by political parties before and during elections, recovered “looted” funds etc. These could be used to improve or create structures for our students in public, private and faith-based schools so that their academic life is not truncated,” the Archbishop said.
He added, “We cannot afford the adverse consequences of leaving our students idle for such an undetermined period of time.”
