The Bishop of Anglican Diocese of Afikpo, Ebonyi state, Rev. Paul Udogu, Sunday, told Nigerian government, both state and federal to be sensitive to the suffering and welfare of the masses.
Udogu stated this at the 5th Synod of the Church held at the Church Cathedral in Afikpo, Afikpo North local government area of the state.
He said the present Nigerian economy was biting hard on individual businesses and organizations even as government is not doing anything to address the problem facing the people.
He pointed out that naira has continued to lose its value in the international market.
He hinted that the rate of inflation in the country was so alarming that no more market price of commodities in the country.
He said: “Price of essential commodities changes per minute. The price of foodstuff, cement and other building materials, petrol are on the increase. This has made life difficult and unbearable; many Nigerians lost their businesses and their investment and plans rendered useless.
“Naira has continued to lose value in the international market as the government continues to borrow money from foreign countries and agencies.
“Civil servants monthly take home salary cannot take them half the month in the face of rising prices of consumable commodities. Many Nigerians cannot eat three times daily let alone affording good medical treatment. The cases of people slumping and dying are now prevalent in our society”.
He said the rising insecurity in the country is becoming worrisome, adding that if nothing was done to address it, Nigeria will become a failed state like Somalia.
Udeogu noted that virtually no region in the country today is safe any longer.
“Everywhere, is completely engulfed with mayhem. The recent attack on the Governors of Benue, Borno and Imo states with the daily banditry attacks on communities and kidnapping of school children and youth in the tertiary institutions in the North and the raping and molestation of our women by terrorist herdsmen are unacceptable.
“There is fear everywhere. Sadly enough, we heard that some schools in some part of Northern Nigeria are being closed down for fear of kidnappers.
“South East was turned into another North East as unknown gunmen almost paralyzed life and economic activities and soldiers and security men that were brought to maintain peace and order, added to the pains of the common man as many people were maltreated and some were falsely tagged IPOB/ESN members and were arrested and killed”, he added.
He condemned high rate of unemployment in the country, adding that yearly, tertiary institutions are graduating thousands of students without government making any plan to absorb them into the labour force.
Adding; “many of our brilliant youths/graduates are unemployed. This has led to many of them to engage in social vices such as 419 or Yahoo Yahoo business, kidnapping, banditry, and terrorism because an idle finger is the devil’s workshop. We are yet to see the millions of job this present government promised Nigerians during the electioneering campaign.
“The EndSars protest by our youth has come and gone, yet our government has refused to learn lessons from that.”