President Goodluck Jonathan has assured that he would do everything within his power to secure the release of the Dean of Niger Delta Diocese of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, Most Revd. Ignatius Kattey,
There have been growing concerns by the Anglican community and the public on the continued captivity of Kattey.
Speaking at the Standing Committee Meeting of the Church at the St. Peter’s Deanery in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the President maintained that everything is being done to ensure his release unharmed.
According to him, he met with the heads of security agencies on Thursday to map out strategies towards ensuring the clergy’s released.
Jonathan expressed personal pain and regret that the Bishop had remained in captivity, which he said was a reflection of the decline in the value system.
He noted that kidnapping has become one of the terror activities aimed at undermining the federal government’s efforts at ensuring a peaceful and stable country.
The President , who commissioned and inaugurated the Anglican Cable Network of Nigeria (ACNN) as part of the activities of the meeting, harped on the need for a return to family units to check the rising crimes.
He said: “Speaking of crime and insecurity, in the country, it is a matter of personal pain and regret to me that the Most Reverend Ignatius Kattey, the Bishop of the Province of the Niger Delta is not with us today because he is still being held by abductors.”
“It is quite worrisome that such inhuman crime as kidnapping has now taken root in our society, it certainly calls for real soul searching and re-evaluation of our entire value system.”
“I strongly condemn the continued abduction by criminal elements in our society who seek to profit from other people’s suffering and humiliation. The Federal Government and its security agencies will continue to do everything possible to rescue Bishop Kattey and other abductees and ensure that their kidnappers are brought to justice.” He added
He said that the Federal Government would continue to vigorously pursue effort to ensure greater security of lives and property across the country.
“Already, as a result of our on-going actions and measures, the security situation is steadily improving. The gains of the state of emergency in the North East had been tremendous and felt by all. From a society that was coping with uncertainty, we are now beginning to see a gradual return to normalcy in most parts of the North and other parts of the country with greater level of certainty in our daily lives.” He said
He went on: “Our calling as people of faith is to constantly demostrate love for all humanity like our Lord Jesus Christ. Our fight should never be against our brothers and sisters but against our worst enemies as a nation which includes terrorism, insecurity, crime, corruption, poverty, disease and ignorance, which are raging the very fabric of our society.”
“We are a society of peace, no religion or culture in Nigeria preaches violence and mindless killings, the sorrow, blood and tears we have seen lately are not hallmarks of our country or any civilised society, we will continue to do our best to ensure that all Nigerians are able to live in peace in one strong, united and indivisible nation.”
“As you proceed to your delibrations, I urge you to remain mindful of the critical role the family and quality education have to play in the urgent task of correcting our value system and to reflect and proffer actions the church can take to support our familly unit and our educational system.”
“I strongly believe that as a nation, we must collectively return our family units to their traditional roles as the bedrock of a just, peaceful and secure society. The family unit which was one of our most prized assets as a people still holds the key to correcting our warp value system but it requires the support of our churches, other religious bodies, schools and men and women of goodwill. It is a fact that some of the biggest and best educational institutions in the world today have their foundations in the church in Nigeria.”
He commended the church for its complementary efforts in providing education, saying: “I urge you to do more in this regard as we could do with more educational support especially in the area of science and technology. We are confronted with challenges today that only sound research and innovation can solve, we cannot continue to look outside for solutions forever, Nigeria has the potentials to provide answers to its own problems and with your assistance, we can surmount the challenges in our educational sector.”
Speaking on the new television station, the president said it was noteworthy for the church to have established the Anglican Cable Network Televison Channel, that would provide the church with more opportunities for propagating message of love, peace and unity as the world increasingly turn to the tools of Information Technology.
The Most Revd Nicholas Okoh, the Archbishop Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigerian Anglican Church in his homily commended the federal government for the steps it had so far taken to ensure peace and stability in the country, especially the state of emergency rule declared in some states in the north-east, which he said had ensure gradual return of peace to the area.
He also acknowledged that government was making steady progress in he areas of rehabilitation of infrastructure such as roads, railways, airports rehabilitation as well as steady improvement in power supply in all parts of the country.
The clergy who spoke on the ongoing face-off between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) called on both parties to find amicable end to the impasse to avert the near collapse of the university system.
According to him, if not resolved the crisis could cause a major break down of the system.
On the long term, however, the clergy called on the federal government to work out a system whereby the university staff union is de-centralized, saying that no where in the world has a union that is that powerful is allowed to have a one unit command structure where its impact is flat in all parts of the country.
The sad aspect of the development, he said, is that while the teachers are on strike, some of them would be taking up teaching appointments in some private universities and at the same paid for the period that they did not work.
