SAHARA REPORTERS
Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Nigeria, has warned the federal government of Nigeria about the dangers of hardship and suffering caused by the removal of fuel subsidy.
He urged the government to return the subsidy, as its removal has led to increased poverty and suffering among Nigerians.
Mbaka, who made this call on Sunday during a homely titled, ‘Miracle of open doors,’ criticised the government for enriching governors while the poor masses suffer.
He also warned those hijacking the economy to beware of God’s anger.
He called on President Bola Tinubu to hire experts to help solve the economic crisis and alleviate the suffering of Nigerians.
Mbaka emphasised that Nigeria is blessed with resources, but poor leadership has led to suffering and insecurity.
He urged the government to unlock the doors of industrialisation and technology, and provide steady power supply and lower interest rates for producers and industrialists.
He also warned that the country is heading towards famine and that people should not wait for the government to provide for them, but rather take action to survive.
The Catholic priest charged church leaders to prepare to provide for their faithful, adding that the time for miracle is coming.
He said the doors of foreign countries are open, but the doors to enter Nigeria are closed, and that the country needs God’s miracle to open the doors of healings.
He said, “Look at what is happening in the country with buoyant riches of liquid and solid minerals with best ecological weather in the whole world. The demographic structure of the country is wonderful, the quality of children is excellence.
“A country blessed with children of orbit and excellence. Interns of education Nigerian children are among the best out oil is the best in the world. Our trees are wonderful, our land is fertile for any type of crops but look at us importing garri, rice, pencil, matches, soap, toothpaste, importing our own crude oil.
“If you go to filling station, the tank you used to fill with N10,000, you can’t fill it with N50,000 again and how much will be the salaries of our civil servants by the time they go to school and come back for two weeks. Has their salary not finished? This problem started from the past government but I believe the present government can do something.
“We cannot continue like this. Shall we continue like this? Never we cannot. I am not blaming anybody but I am thinking that if they cannot provide solution, you look for those who can provide solution. I am not blaming the present government but I am noticing that there are many square pegs in round holes, people who do not know how to solve problems.
“Somebody who doesn’t know how to solve maths, you ask him to be a mathematics teacher, you can’t give what you don’t have.
“Nigeria is locked up, Nigeria is under a siege, Nigeria is caged, Nigeria is passing through a casket experience. We need to be unlocked.”
He lamented that youths are leaving Nigeria in droves, saying, “Many are languishing having gone out but despite what they are suffering there, it is better for them than when they are here.”
He said, “Why can’t there be steady power supply, why can’t the interest for producers and industrialists from the banks be lowered, how can somebody effectively take a loan from the bank and be paying 40℅, how? It’s an indirect way of increasing criminality. It’s a subtle way of perpetrating anachronisms of kidnapping and insecurity. It’s a matter of who can say it.
“I am not talking about protest but I mean that the present government should sit up or sit down and plan on what to do to ameliorate the suffering of the poor masses. Mortuaries are being filled with people who died out of hopelessness. It’s even affecting the spirituality and morality of our people. People cannot eat. Imagine a parent with six children, how many cups of garri will they eat in a day?
“Some can’t even go to the hospital, if you go to the hospital and drugs are prescribed, how will you eat because it’s after meal that you take drugs. Can you even pay for the hospital bill? Every week the problem is multiplying, our case is becoming amoebic like amoebae, shapeless.
“Look at the wonderful communiqué the bishops wrote, we have read them in the church, how will that be promulgated? I know that all in the Aso Rock, major two groups, Christians and Muslims, who are handling Bible and Quran. Either you’re reading the Bible or you’re reading the Quran. Can’t you because of Jesus or Muhammad make this country a home worthy of existence?”
Praising Burkina Faso, the cleric said, “The international Monetary Fund, IMF has been asking them to come and borrow money and they said no that they don’t need it.
“Nigeria is perpetually borrowing and borrowing. Some of you may be blaming the present government not knowing that they have been caged. The money the last government burrowed, I don’t think the present government can finish paying it. Remember when they give you the money, you use what you have as collateral.”
THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN SAHARA REPORTERS
He’s the only one that can speak out.