A Catholic bishop in Nigeria was warned the most populous African nation “is becoming a failed state.”
Bishop of Idah Diocese, Bishop Anthony Adaji of Idah – located in Kogi State in Nigeria’s “middle belt” region – has attacked the administration of President Bola Tinubu, who has faced severe inflation and growing cases of attacks by militants and criminal groups.
He was speaking on Sunday at Our Lady Mother of Mercy Catholic Church in Idah to Punch newspaper.
The bishop said the Nigerian state is becoming a place where “people can no longer trust the government.”
Nigeria is a nation of over 230 million people, almost evenly divided between Christians and Muslims. The Christian population is primarily in the South, while Islam dominates the North. However, the “Middle Belt” is where the two religions meet.
Kogi is 45 percent Muslim and 40 percent Christian – the remaining population follow traditional ethnic religions.
This year, Ahmed Usman Ododo was elected governor of the state. He is a Muslim member of the All Progressives Congress. This is also the party of the Nigerian president.
“If you look at the political arrangement right now, the governor is in charge of the state through a political party,” he said.
“All the Local government election results are declared with no other party winning any election and we still call it democracy. Democracy is failing in our country called Nigeria. We cannot pretend things are getting well. It is getting worse every day,” Adaji said.
In early August, “EndBadGovernanceInNigera” protests which took place and led to several deaths and multiple arrests. The protestors criticized food shortages, corruption, and demanded the reinstatement of gas and electricity subsidies.
“People are dying because of a cup of garri [the flour of cassava] right now in our country. I would recall that the former [U.S.] ambassador to Nigeria when he came to commission something in Abuja, said Nigeria is the most concentrated country with black intellectuals around the world,” Adaji said.
The bishop noted the ambassador was a black American.
“Even in America, the black people, Nigeria has the highest intellectuals among the black people in the world,” the bishop said.
In the U.S. over 61 percent of Nigerian Americans aged 25 years or older hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 28 percent of the total U.S. population, making them of the most successful immigrant groups in the country.
“How can such a country be gradually sinking and becoming a failed state? We cannot pretend about that,” Adaji said.
“The politicians in Nigeria are not helping democracy to grow. So, you cannot tell me that in a particular state that is being controlled by a particular political party, there is no local government that can choose a candidate. This is not true because I don’t believe that. It is a deliberate attempt by politicians to destroy democracy,” the bishop claimed.
Adaji told Punch Nigeria has enough resources that every child in the country should not be hungry.
However, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says Nigeria has the “largest number of food insecure people globally” at 31.8 million people.
“There is a great endowment of wealth in this country, but the mismanagement of wealth has led us to where we are now. This is the situation Nigerians are facing. God has blessed Nigeria abundantly, but unfortunately, the mismanagement of Nigeria’s resources over time has brought us to where we are now. If nothing is done it can only get worse and never get better.”
Adaji said Tnubu’s administration of the country is poor, adding that his government has succeeded in impoverishing many Nigerians.
“The removal of fuel subsidy and the escalating price of goods with many Nigerians dying because of a cup of garri and can’t afford to feed their family, we can’t call that as an administration that is moving Nigeria forward,” the bishop said.
He said if the government is committed to uplifting the country forward, “the cost of governance must be cut off.”
“You cannot talk of giving politicians [high salaries], and many Nigerians are dying because they can’t afford food to eat. We can’t accept such a government. It can only be ranked among governors that have looted the economy. If nothing is done or things continue like this, the nation is spelling for doom,” Adaji said.
“It is not at all because we must tell ourselves the truth. There is nothing to lose in telling the truth,” the bishop said.
