The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese of the Catholic Church, Bishop Matthew Kukah, has advocates purposeful leadership and followership to address the myriad of economic challenges confronting the country currently.
He indicated that every Nigerian knows the problems facing the country at the moment, saying that it would take leaders and citizens’ resolve to address the problems for the good of the country and the coming generations.
The cleric however stated that every country in the world also has its own problems, contending that it takes the patriotic zeal of the citizens and purposeful leaders to address such problems.
Kukah spoke on Friday in Yenagoa while delivering a keynote address at the third annual national public lecture of the FirstNews, an online newspaper published by a former Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information, Strategy and Orientation, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson.
Speaking on the theme, ‘The Nigerian Question: Survival of the Federation in the Throes of Increasing Economic Challenges’, the cleric contended that even those who are responsible for Nigeria’s problems are not also safe as their crimes were hunting them.
He urged Nigerians to find its own navigational truth for proper development as done in other nations.
Kukah said: “The good thing about Nigeria is that everybody knows what the problems are and that the people who are responsible for the problems are not also safe, they too do not know peace.
“Nigerians talk about other countries, I feel sorry for many Nigerians who because of many troubles hardly travel out of their immediate environments, let alone traveling to other parts of Africa or other parts of the world.
“Though, every country has its own problems, the challenges before us in Nigeria are what we actually want. Obviously, can we democratise and develop our nation? It is a very difficult question to answer, because what we call the civilised world today is the last 200 years of exploitation of Africa that helped to build these nations.
“So, we are imagining it ourselves; why are we not like other people, we are not like others because every nation has to find its own navigational truth for development. It is not as if we cannot use democracy to develop Nigeria, but there are certain fundamental things that must be on the ground before people could appreciate democracy.
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“Unless Nigeria settles the issue of ‘bread and butter mentality’ the democracy can actually look like lottery,” Kukah posited.
Also speaking, the Publisher of First News, Mr Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said the essence of the lecture was to brainstorm on the Nigeria’s challenging economy and to proffer possible solutions, adding that the nation’s economic problems are very glaring.
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According to him, Nigeria’s situation has defied any solution, noting that the development was why the lecture was arranged to find solutions to the economic challenges affecting the country.
Also speaking, Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Gideon Ekeuwei, urged Bayelsa people to develop themselves in order to curb the economic situations.
He urged Nigerians to leverage the power of technology to move the country’s forward, expressing optimism that Nigeria would bounce back again.