Resolve rising food prices, hardship – Catholic Bishops to Nigerian Govt

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, has called on the Federal Government to resolve the rising food prices and hardship in the country.

The bishops, in a communique issued at the end of a week-long second Plenary Meeting of the CBCN, held in Auchi Diocese, Edo, urged the federal government to support farmers with subsidies, soft loans, modern technology, and improved seedlings, saying that such measures should also involve supporting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, SMEs.

According to the clerics, Nigerians were currently groaning under the hardship fueled by high electricity tariffs, high cost of petroleum products, transportation and medicare as well as poor lack of basic infrastructure, seeking for a radical change of heart from a political ideology that promotes arbitrary use of power for self-enrichment to politics as service and solidarity with the people.

The bishops declared 2024 as the Year of Prayer, in preparation for the Jubilee Year of Hope in 2025 and stressed that prayer must be accompanied by action and repentance of wrongdoings as individuals, communities, leaders, and as a nation.

While calling for intensified vigilance to ensure the liturgy is celebrated according to approved norms, the bishops expressed deep concern over the increasing aberrations during worship, such as unduly lengthy celebrations, excessive monetary collections, lack of silence and decorum, and alteration of sacramental words and elements.

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Admonishing the governments to address the issues that engender protests and release all detained protesters, the CBCN frowned at the use of violence by some protesters and the killing of citizens by security operatives while reaffirming the constitutional right to peaceful protest and urged the government to reconsider its economic reform policies to lift the burden of hardship from citizens and promote people-oriented development.

The body also appealed to governments to harmonize taxes and address multiple taxation to stem the tide of business collapse and encourage investors even as they advised all Nigerians to observe the ongoing Year of Prayer, fast sincerely for the country, and commit the nation to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen and Patroness of Nigeria.