Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie: Jonathan’s govt confused

CATHOLIC Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, has expressed unhappiness over the present situation of things in the country, stressing that the present government of President Goodluck Jonathan appeared confused.

Addressing newsmen in Awka after inaugurating the ultra-modern St Peter’s Catholic Church, built by a philanthropist, Chief Austin Ndigwe, Okogie observed that everything appeared to have ground to a halt, adding that government seemed to lack the initiative to put things right.

“To say that we are making progress in Nigeria is to deceive ourselves. To those in government, they might be making progress, but to most Nigerians, we are not getting better. The present regime is confused in all its ramifications.

President Jonathan

“For instance, they want to remove oil subsidy and the question I ask is, what do they want to do with the money? Up till now, nobody has told Nigerians in specific terms how the money to be saved from removing fuel subsidy will be used.

“If they tell us that they want to channel it to any project, they should be able to tell us which project the money will go into.

“They should also tell us the contractors that will handle such projects so that Nigerians should hold them responsible should they disappoint the people as they were doing in the past.”

He accused government of taking so many projects at a time and realizing none, suggesting that it would be better to concentrate on one or two sensitive projects that touch lives of Nigerians and work towards achieving them.

According to him, there is nothing wrong in government making sure that power is made available on a regular basis, as well as ensuring that the nation’s refineries were producing at optimal capacity.

Okogie noted that these would go a long way towards alleviating the sufferings of the people.

On the issue of Boko Haram, Okogie said government knew those behind it and refused to bring them to book.

He observed, for instance, that a Nigerian who was accused of trying to bomb an American plane last year was still in detention, yet those arrested for allegedly sponsoring Boko Haram activities were released hurriedly from detention.

He argued that treating the issue with kid’s glove would never solve the problem because those behind it were desperate to see Nigeria disintegrate.

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