"8 months after, Nigerians Yet To See Change." - Bishop Kukah

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah

Bishop Kukah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, on February 21, 2016, publicly assessed the eight months administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and concluded that his promised change was still a mirage to Nigerians.

He advised that to pull away from the brink of collapse, the President should inspire Nigerians into engaging in productive activities that would help to revive and boost the country’s economy.

The Bishop, Matthew Hassan Kukah, gave the advice  in Umuahia, Abia State while delivering a valedictory lecture in honour of the out-going Vice-Chancellor of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Professor Hilary Edeoga. He challenged Buhari to learn from great world leaders who saw opportunities in the challenges of their nations.

Stating that great leaders excelled because they did not hesitate to transform challenges into opportunities, he said: “This is one of the finest moments for us to transform our nation.”

Going further, he said: “One of our problems in Nigeria is that we lack the imagination, the charisma and the capacity to rouse a crowd. From 1960 till date, have you seen any Nigerian President’s speech you feel like going back to read?”

He stated that President Buhari’s inability to fix Nigeria’s eroding economy eight months after assuming office has vindicated his earlier prediction that the retired general turned politician might not perform magic.

“When I said what I said, people were abusing me. I didn’t have any need to defend myself in the sense that I know this country a little bit well enough. Suddenly, in less than three months, the same people who were accusing me called me and said, “Bishop, what did you see at that time that we didn’t see?”

“Now all those who were pretending that they were so fanatical about Buhari, I am the one now telling them to hold on and be patient that the man will gradually get there.” 

He punctured the President’s approach on the corruption war without corresponding efforts to grow the economy.

“All this talk about fighting corruption, Nigerians are now convinced that Buhari is on his own. But the truth of the matter still remains that all of us believe that we cannot continue this way. The question is, who is going to pay what price?”

“It is not only the responsibility of government to fix the economic maladies of the nation but the collective duty of the intellectual class. Indeed the redemption of this country does not lie in the hands of politicians.”

The cleric also castigated Buhari’s administration over its claims that it had defeated Boko Haram when it was evident that the war against insurgency is not yet over.

“I hear government say, “Technically, we have defeated Boko Haram; we have also degraded them. The vocabulary is changing but one fact is that beyond the shifting of the goal post, there is a moral issue.

“Government is focusing on reconstruction as if one day, they will open the window and find that Boko Haram is gone. They are thinking of reconstruction in economic terms, but it is all about understanding the dynamics of the societies that have gone through what Nigeria is going through.

“The end of Boko Haram is the beginning of another war by another means. It may not be a shooting-war.”

The Bishop advised Nigerians to learn from the Igbo boys on how they survived after the bruising civil war.

Tasking  Buhari to emulate President Roosevelt who prepared American soldiers coming back from war to become productive and revamp the American economy after the Second World war, Kukah said, “ Nigerians are just looking for opportunity to do what God has ordained them to do and many able-bodied Nigerians have the capacity and ability to do just that. We need a government that does not turn work into an instrument of terrorism.”