The Catholic Bishop of Bauchi Diocese, Most Rev. Dr. N Nanman Dachelem
ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi-
The Catholic Bishop of Bauchi Diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Hilary Nanman Dachelem, has said that Nigeria is sick and that something urgently must be done to prevent it from becoming moribund.
Rev. Dachelem, who stated this in an interview with some journalists at the Catholic Cathedral Bauchi, on Thursday lamented that the country degenerated into a failed state while the leaders refused to tackle the underlying causes.
In his words: “Nigeria is indeed sick because it doesn’t carry the integrity of a federal nation, it doesn’t carry what a corporate nation should be. Nigeria is not okay, not what it should be, something is definitely wrong some where”.
“When I was growing up, this is certainly not the Nigeria we used to know, we are facing a different Nigeria. The Nigeria we used to know was a free country and it was not as if there was no crime then but it was minimal and not at the alarming rate that it is now”.
“There were pockets of issues but they were not too overwhelming. Those who were into crime and criminality were very insignificant compared to the entire number but now, I don’t know if majority of us are criminals, more or less.
“In the former Nigeria we knew, you could go to anywhere at anytime, we had armed robberies but they weren’t as prevalent as what we have today, so much, that a governor is afraid of traveling, even a governor is attacked by bandits. If a governor who has all the paraphernalia of security at his disposal is also suffering from this, if we don’t do anything, we know that we are already heading for a doom.”
Speaking on the general insecurity across the country, particularly killings, kidnappings, the Bishop said that these were happening because Nigeria had developed a culture of death by becoming used to death.
“If you develop an attitude that is unhealthy, that becomes a culture. Right now, there is an inverted approach about life, people have paradoxically moved from the culture of life to the culture of death”.
“People no longer appreciate life because we have not decided to explore the true values and expound the gains of life. We have not exploited the benefits of life and gradually, there is a paradigm shift from the culture of life to that of death”.
“If you open the television, people want to know ‘where is the place that people have been kidnapped, who and who have died? How many? Where?’ This is the anxiety that people are been attacked because we have acculturated ourselves with the culture of death and it is sad”.
“And that is to tell you about the collapse of a nation. If we are comfortable with the culture of death, one day, we will kill everybody and all of use will wake up and there is no Nigeria,” he stated.
Ask if Nigeria is collapsing, he said: “What do you think? It is a nation that has collapsed. If it is not collapsing, let her handle the issues. Wait, wait, you are annoying me here…
“You are asking me if Nigeria is collapsing, is your child among the students of Greenfield University that were kidnapped? Am sure some have two children or even more, if your child is in the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, you will never ask me whether Nigeria is collapsing. Nigeria is collapsing, it is almost a nation in moribund with the way it is going.”
Rev. Dachelem, who blamed both the leaders and the followers for being responsible for the problems in Nigeria, however, pointed out that 60 percent of the problems go to the leadership because of their “incompetence, less-a-fear attitude, neglect and levity.”
In proceeding solutions to the county’s problems, he called on the President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately engage the youth by addressing the high unemployment rate.
He also advised that agitations by various groups across the country, not to be swept under the carpet but must be solved through dialogue.