Follow Us on Google
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Archdiocese, Ignatius Kaigama, has raised the alarm of excruciating poverty that is threatening Nigerians, their value system and the existence of the country.
Kaigama, who delivered a Homily at Holy Trinity, Maitama, Abuja, yesterday, said he was daily bombarded with demands from parishioners for welfare assistance.
He said priests and officials of St. Vincent de Paul Society, a catholic organisation dedicated to the poor, are on daily basis, bombarded with requests from church members for material assistance.
Kaigama said: “I receive requests from many qualified, but unemployed youths. Requests to pay house rent, school fees, dowries, and even for funerals, as well as to buy cars. When you go to the periphery of our cities, you see people who suffer the lack of basic infrastructure and worry so much about the safety of their lives and property. Our poor social security system negatively affects millions of Nigerian security personnel, youths, retirees, disabled persons, and families of retired or deceased workers living and this contributes to the rising crime rate, leaving the authorities in a quandary. Youths have been turned into beggars. Some have embraced violent crimes or other criminal activities. Pensioners, sometimes regret their faithful services to their fatherland as they languish in poverty, especially during tough times like these.”
He made reference to a situation in Germany and some other developed countries where those who could not work during the COVID-19 period were given 60 percent of their salary, and those whose small private businesses were affected, got economic help to cushion their hardship.
“Humanitarian activities of Church-based organisations such as the Catholic Relief Services (USA), Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Britain), MISSION and MISEREOR, ACN in Germany have supported many poor people in Nigeria. Their income comes largely from Catholics who take up collections yearly; some of the organisations are supported by their governments to reach out to us without religious or ethnic discrimination. Despite all the Catholic Church has done and continues to do through social services, schools and hospitals, government collaborative support of the Catholic Church needs radical improvement.”
He said that Catholic Church has taken advantage of the lenten campaign to take up collections from lenten boxes and other mandatory collections (collections during Stations of the Cross, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, etc) to meet the Church’s obligations towards the poor, widows, prisoners, youths, etc.
