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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Archdiocese, Ignatius Kaigama, has highlighted the reason for the recent sudden rise in social ills in Nigeria.
Kaigama said radical shift in understanding and expression of hospitality in today’s Nigeria significantly contributed to social ills such as terrorism, kidnapping and increased number of street children.
The archbishop, in a homily delivered at Loyola Jesuit College, Gidan Mangoro, Abuja, yesterday, said hospitality was one of the core virtues of the African and Christian cultures, adding that a typical African family setting believes in the joy of welcoming with open arms and sharing what one has with the other person.
“Unfortunately, our sense of being our brother’s/sister’s keeper is gradually dying due to highly individualistic disposition. In the face of worsening insecurity, it has become difficult to extend hospitality to those we know and almost impossible to welcome those we don’t know into our homes.
“The African understanding of hospitality is grounded in the fact that no one exists alone; rather, every individual is part of the whole community. As a new primary school teacher years back, I was going to my station for the first time. We crossed a big river by canoe, and as it was too late, I joined some Fulani Muslim men to trek a long distance to the next village where they brought me to their house.
