Catholic clerics, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Diocese, Dr. Ignatius Kaigama and his predecessor, Emeritus Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, have urged the Federal Government to rescind its decision on the recent fuel prices and electricity tariffs hikes.
They said on Friday in Abuja that this is to make life more comfortable for Nigerians who were already finding it difficult to survive.
The duo were speaking by the side lines of the Maiden General Assembly of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, since it was established in November 1981, with the theme “Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja: Together in Evangelization”.
According to Kaigama, the Federal Government must have mercy on the poor and needy constituting a large number of Nigerians and that government was capable of finding better solutions that would not exert more hardship on the citizenry.
“I can only beg on behalf of the poor and the needy that government should have mercy on us. We are at the grassroots and I meet people who are really poor and in need and with all these increases it makes life more intolerable.
“As a priest I can only pray that God will do something for the poor and needy but God doesn’t operate in a vacuum, he uses our leaders; the President, the governors, local government chairman. I know they can do something. Let them just look at the poor and the needy with the eyes of mercy and strategize, there is a way out, they can be help. As a witness people are in agony and are suffering, government is their father, government is their leader let them do something,” Kaigama said.
On his part, the Archbishop Emeritus, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, who berated the present administration for failing to live up to its promises, noted that Nigerians deserved to live better lives.
“Mr. President, in the same breath, was telling us he was going to do all he can to make life easier for Nigerians and one of the things he can do is those increases. Fuel price increase, electricity increase should be put in a wider context. We would not be complaining about fuel price increase if the salaries were also increased.
“The problem comes when you leave the people with nothing to eat, i don’t think government is supposed to be doing that. They should find a way to make life liveable for Nigerians,” Onaiyekan said.
