From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
As Nigerians await the inauguration of President-elect, Bola Tinubu, on May 29, Rev. Fr. Remigius Ihyula of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, has listed security, the economy and unity of the country as major task before the incoming President.
He stated this in an interview with Daily Sun at the weekend in Makurdi, Benue state capital, tasking Tinubu to address the security challenges across various states so that lives and property are adequately protected.
the cleric, who is Coordinator for the Foundation for Justice, Development and Peace,(FJDP), a faith-based organisation in the Makurdi Catholic Diocese, lamented the high rate of unemployment among educated youths and the attendant poverty saying there was need to engage them meaningfully.
He urged Tinubu to priorities the economy by influencing foreign or home grown investments to generate massive employment opportunities for millions of jobless youths.
“I would expect that the President will address these issues. There are issues of economy. In fact, we don’t have anything that resembles an economy. For a country the size of Nigeria, we should have a focused economy and focused people leading this economy.
“Related to that, we have so many youths who are out of school and are not employed. So the president must secured the country, boost the economy, influence foreign investment or home grown investment.
“There is problem in food, We should, in Benue State, for instance, and in other states that are agrarian, we should be encouraged to go to the farm so that Nigerians can have food to buy and cheaper too.”
Ihyula pointed out that the country in the last eight years, had been bedeviled with tribal and religious bickering and called on the incoming President to curtail the menace.
“Nigeria in the last eight years, was so polarized along religious grounds, along tribal grounds. We were ruled by a president who said his tribe was better than any other tribe and his religion better than other religions. The next president must do things to fix these excesses. Nigerians should not be discriminated against and nobody should feel that because he or she is from a certain section of the country, he is better than others.”