BY TAIWO OGUNMOLA-OMILANI
The Presiding Bishop of Rhema Christian Church and Towers, Bishop Taiwo Akinola has urged the Federal Government to make Nigeria safe for the people and provide employment for the teeming Nigerian youths.
The cleric, who stated this at a press conference on the 2023 convention of the church, said that Nigeria is still ranked among the top countries with the highest level of terrorism in the world.
Speaking on the state of the nation, Bishop Akinola made reference to the
2023 Assessed Terrorism Impact in 163 countries by the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) and came up with the conclusion that Nigeria is still unsafe due to intractable cases of terrorism.
“As a Church, we strongly value safety of lives and properties, and we are therefore, constantly burdened and somewhat traumatised by the growing level of insecurity in the country.
“We believe that the security of lives and property is a foremost constitutional responsibility of the government. Where a government fails in this regard, it has truly failed and this gives a great cause for concern.
“Reports indicated that in the past five months alone, more than 300 people were murdered by in different parts of the North Central states of Nigeria. Furthermore, some heartless bandits and militants are still terrorising innocent people in the North Eastern part of the country.
“Curiously, therefore, some privileged socio-religious elites, like one Sheik Gumi, are still making some recklessly unguarded and rather inflammatory statements that constitute national security risks,” he said.
The cleric therefore, appealed to members of the armed forces to work harder and ensure that the culprits are brought to book without any ethno-religious considerations in a bid to make Nigeria safer for everyone to live in and make it an attractive destination for investments.
He also called on state governors to take up the challenge and secure their states.
“All hands must be on deck to reverse the deteriorating security issues in the country so that the governments can discharge their primary responsibilities of safeguarding the lives and properties of the citizens”, he said.
Bishop Akinola said further that concrete efforts must be exerted to tackle the twin challenge of unemployment and poverty in the nation.
“We are also appealing to governments at all levels to urgently restructure our economic system, develop sincere courage to fight corruption, and address the issue of unemployment in the interests of employable youths and a more beautiful future for the country at large,” Akinola added.
The cleric however, charged Nigerians to continue to pray for God’s mercy upon the country, saying that there is nothing so the grace of God cannot redeem.
“Let us have faith in God, and have confidence that He can help our nation, Nigeria. It is not over yet because God still hears prayers,” he said.
Meanwhile, the convention would begin November 5 to November 12, 2023.
