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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Archdiocese, Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, has expressed worry over the rising hopelessness of Nigerians in the Nigerian project due so many happenings.
Archbishop Kaigama, in his homily delivered at St. Dominic’s Catholic Church, Kwali, Abuja, blamed the government for the lost of trust and confidence in a possible better Nigeria soon.
He said: “Hope is the most important commodity we all need at the moment. We need hope to trust again in our political leaders. In addition to that, we need hope to trust again in the dream of a better Nigeria, and we must rise above the clouds of hopelessness, anger and division, and engage ourselves in constructive thinking and action.
“It’s disheartening that we repeatedly hear stories of killings, acts of inhumanity and barbarism such as cutting down food crops in farmlands, burning and looting of houses, property, among others.
“Many of our people are being ravaged by poverty. As if that is not enough, we now have the nationwide strike of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) which has compounded an already worrisome situation of hunger caused by the escalating prices of food stuff.
“The doctors are striking over their pay, insurance benefits and the need to improve medical facilities. It has become normal for the Government to dilly dally in finding the best solutions until people have died or suffered irreversible damages.”
Archbishop Kaigama, thus, observed that frequent industrial actions of various professional groups reflect the poor attention given to workers with very sensitive responsibilities.
“It’s not surprising therefore that many of our doctors are happily taking job opportunities in European countries and beyond, where their services are needed and valued.
“It also appeared not to disturb our authorities that we are losing many health experts, not because they want to leave the country, but because they don’t experience any job satisfaction and their effort to serve patriotically is not reciprocated by a conducive working environment and appropriate remuneration and incentives,” he added.
The Catholic Archbishop expressed hope that the third wave of COVID-19 that came with high infections and fatality rates will convince the Government to swing into positive action to see that the resident doctors resume their duties, with the needed medical measures taken to save lives.
He prayed that God will keep Nigerians safe so that they can go about their businesses in the farms, markets and schools without fear of attacks.
