The Catholic Directors of Communication have called on winners of the just concluded elections to be magnanimous in victory by extending their hands of fellowship to their competitors.
The Chairman, Communique Drafting Committee, Rev. Sister Josephine Odorwike and Secretary, Rev. Fr Benjamin Achi made the call in a communique issued on Friday in Makurdi at the end of its First plenary of Arch-Diocesan and Religious Directors of Communication.
”We call on all who have come out victoriously after the elections to be magnanimous in victory by embracing their competitors from the other political divides and together fashion out policies that will contribute to the growth of our nation.
”We equally call on those who have lost this time to exhibit the spirit of sportsmanship and join hands with the government to work for the good of our nation,” they said.
According to the communique, they lamented the rate at which the social media had been abused.
”We have noticed with great concern the harm being caused by the improper use of the social means of communication.
“Though, the new means of social communication, when well employed, are veritable tools for evangelisation and human development, their wrong use has the potential to destroy human interaction.
”The positive side of the use of the new social means of communication include the ease of communication, improvement in learning and education, simplification of things, creation of artificial intelligence that can ease our work and the generation of big data.
”Its flip side can be damaging such as the promotion of insensitivity, loss of empathy, promotion of false living, insecurity, loneliness, distractions, addiction, hatred, misinformation, disinformation, fake news and information pollution.
”The replacement of interpersonal communication with the social media has made the prophesy of Albert Einstein with its negative repercussion true: ‘I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots,” they said.
The clerics also lamented the spate of kidnapping and killing of priests and the religious, saying ”We have noticed with shock and disdain the increasing rate of kidnaps and sometimes, murder of priests and religious leaders in our country.
”The church has been, and would continue to be the voice and hope of the voiceless in our society;
“This function has been carried out by priests and religious, doing away with priests and religious implies doing away with the church and what it stands for.
”We appeal to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) to undertake a research on the causes of the kidnap and murder of the priests and religious and collaborate with the government in bringing to an end this sacrilegious act,” they said. (NAN)
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
