4 July 2009
Lagos — The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria has expressed regret that there was very little to celebrate as Nigeria's 10 years of democracy have witnessed the near collapse, rather than development of the nation's socio-economic infrastructure.
The Church noted with dismay, the abject decay in the nation's rail, road and water transportation network, electricity and water supply, health-care and agricultural sectors as well as the declining standard of education. Unemployment, insecurity of lives and property, poverty, and low capacity utilisation in industries have worsened. The Niger Delta crisis, the Church added, has been allowed to degenerate to a guerilla warfare dimension. Credible elections, which are the bedrock of democracy, have eluded the nation as our polls are characterized by violence and willful manipulation of the electoral process.
The Church appealed to the political class to recognize the collective interest of the people as the primary purpose of governance and strive to give Nigerians the much needed dividends of democracy.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting of its General Assembly Executive Committee (GAEC) held at St. Paul's Parish, Ogbor Hill, Abia State, the Church blamed the Government for allowing the current strike actions in the nation's Universities in spite of the warning strike actions embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities with regard to the Government honouring the agreement it had earlier reached with relevant unions in the University system.
The Church called on the Government to respond immediately to the issues involved in the strike actions to avert a prolonged strike which would have devastating effects on the already declining standard of education in the country.
The communiqué, jointly signed by the Moderator of the General Assembly, The Rt. Rev. Dr. Ubon Bassey Usung and the Principal Clerk, The Rev. Ndukwe Nwachukwu Eme, welcomed President Musa Yar'adua's offer of amnesty to militants in the Niger Delta as a prelude to ending the warfare in the region and paving the way for an amicable resolution of the crisis. While the Church called on all militant groups to embrace the amnesty offer, it urged the Federal Government to come up with an action plan to address the issue of marginalization and gross neglect of the needs of the people of the area in order to bring to an end the civil unrest in the region.
On the review of the Constitution, the Church noted with delight the resumption of the exercise, this time, by the separate arms of the National Assembly. It again urged the National Assembly to enshrine in the new Constitution, the principle of true Federalism in which each Federating State will control the resources within its bounds. Other important issues to be looked into include States Creation, the Immunity Clause and the need to strengthen the status of Nigeria as a secular State where no religion rules.
The Church expressed its displeasure with the Federal Government's planned deregulation of the downstream sector of the nation's oil industry, stressing that the major step towards tackling the crisis in the oil industry was to fully rehabilitate the existing refineries and put in place the enabling environment for the establishment of private refineries which will ensure uninterrupted supply of petroleum products, create jobs, stimulate the growth of the economy and eliminate imports of petroleum products.
The communiqué viewed with concern the alarming incidence of crime and insecurity, particularly with regard to kidnapping, armed robbery and general acts of violence. It blamed this trend on unemployment, the general decay of infrastructure to stimulate self employment and the erosion of religious values. While the Church called on the Government to put in place effective policies to generate employment and develop infrastructure, it also urged religious leaders to pay more attention to the teaching of sound religious values in order to return the nation to God. In addition, the Police should be adequately equipped to control the menace.
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