Fuel Subsidy: Very unfortunate phenomenon, I wish the government will reverse the policy for it is anti people. The Bishop of Wukari Diocese, Taraba State, Bishop MARK NZUKWEIN spoke on ranch of issues to include, Criss in Southern Taraba, Fuel Subsidy, Coup de’etat in Niger Republic amongst other issues.
Our Correspondent EMMANUEL AWARI Captured the Interview. Excerpts:
What was the state of the Diocese when you came and what were your priorities upon assumption of office?
I inherited a diocese that was highly divided on social and political forms due to the series of crisis that Taraba has gone through from inter ethnic, religious, and Intra tribal. Infact the crises have been there since the 80’s but of late it took a more serious dimension especially the 2019 crises in Wukari between the tiv and Jukuns.
Usually after the fights the people will return to their homes but for that of the 2019 because of the level of destruction, so many interest and cross border support that was at play during the crisis, so there was a lot of devastation. Even in Ibi, Wukari, Donga, even Kurmi, the Ichens as you know have never been known for crisis but this crises was taken to them to the extent that even some pastors were killed. It even reached Kungana and Baissa areas so because of that crises so many people were displace. I can’t give a statistics but I can be sure they are well over 30,000. As at the time I came, the displaced were not return even thought the crises took place in 2019. Some outside the state, Benue, Nassarawa, some to the central parts of the state so I came to diocese where the majority of my people were the Tiv population.
Apart from that I met a diocese in crises because of the unfortunate clash between the so Kuteb and Fulani. The so called Kuteb Fulani clash in Takum, already Takum has been a place of controversy, so my diocese was on fire.
I was made the bishop of Wukari diocese but I couldn’t go to my home place because it was on fire so it was quite a disturbing phenomenon to the extent that I couldn’t fix my Thanksgiving immediately. Over 80 villages, over 200-300 thousand people displaced. Either you are displaced directly or someone who is, is staying with you. That was the station I met.
So immediately after my ordination I had to address the priests to tell them that our first mission has to be a peace mission. We have to let our people know that it is possible for them to live together. That Christianity has values that promote peaceful coexistence, after all southern Taraba is a Christian dominated area so we have no option but to let them know that the primary mission is peace. Since then, we have been on the move. Personally I have been to many IDP camps within and outside the diocese to celebrate the holy mass and since I don’t the resources been a new diocese to even provide relief materials, I have to out and celebrate mass and once in a while if there’s something we give to them, but what is that to their number?
So I met a highly divided diocese but now we are working on peace. We have gone to Donga, for Takum twice even at the risk of life but it is actually paying off. Here in Wukari we are embarking on a very elaborate peace education. The Jukun and tiv groups in different categories. When they come we try to educate them. In my office when I move out for mass, the homily, the admonition is all around the subject matter of peace. so this is were we are gor the time being before we think of any development, our people have to settle down first. We are interfacing with different stakeholders, the traditional council, civil authorities, some politicians to make sure that people who are displaced in their numbers eventually return to their homes because you can’t talk about development without the people. Even now that government is taking about free education, you can’t provide free education to an unfree environment, so that’s what we’re doing now.
What roles are the elites, security agencies playing in this process?
The meeting that was held at Takum on the 25th or June , one of the resolutions was to engage the elites actively in the peace process because you can be sure that when there’s fire in any environment you can be sure that the elites are contributing positively or negatively because the people listen to them alot. They are our one of our targets and I think since the resolution went on air, some stakeholders especially in that Takum area are trying to engage the elites.
Why is southern Taraba most affected by these crisis and what can be done to put an end to it?
As you are aware, Taraba state has over 80 nationalities and languages so because of the inability of the succeeding leadership to harness the diversity and put them to the service of Taraba, this has resulted to some of the issues we have today
Taraba state is highly blessed and if we are talking about blessings, southern Taraba has a bigger chunk because of their rich land, riverine and mountainous areas with a lot of land with a lot of mineral and natural resources around it. The land itself is very fertile for all sorts of food to grow. So if you being so many people together living in an environment with so many resources, you can be sure that there will be conflict of interest, people are competing to have possession of land, you talk about chieftaincy tittles, indigene -settler dichotomy. You also have political differences. People who register their presence in different political parties to register their interest, so when these people feel they don’t get what they want, they resort to violence.
So it’s left for the government whose responsibility it is to secure the lives and property of the people to provide security and to also promote peace and development of the environment. They should also make sure that where there are conflicts of interest, they can come in to stabilize issues and even the relationship among people. To bring them together to help them to look at those issues generating tension and together try to chart a new cause for the sake of development and peace of the environment.
Taraba turns 32 in weeks, how far have we come as a state?
Some of us witnessed the creation of Taraba state. As a seminarian,the state was created when I had already gone to higher institution – the major seminary. So we celebrated the creation of Taraba in a big way because we felt that from Gongola, the seat of government had come closer to us. But then, when you see the development in the state, I think we have gone a long way especially with the state capital because some of us knew what Jalingo was before the creation of the state. It couldn’t be compared to Ganye, Numan and some of these major towns in former Gongola State. So if you talk of development in the state capital itself, I think it’s one of the fastest. The town has noe developed up to roadblock, Milesix, ATC, Mayo Dassa and BTA side. It’s really phenomenal.
But when you try to look at the bigger picture of the development, you can be sure that it’s not thesame. So we need to do more in terms of road infrastructure, water, electricity and especially in the area of education. There are still many of our schools that are dilapidated, lacking staff even after so many years. A child of 33 years should be an adult.
And when we talk about our relationship with one another, inter ethnic and also inter religious relationship. Especially in the inter religious form, Taraba state has been turn into a kind of battleground for contest of power using religious platforms. It’s like people are battling for the soul of Taraba State even after so many years. Instead of the two religions and ethnic groups coming together see what they can do to make Taraba a home for all, they’ve Taraba into a battle ground based on religious differences or tribal difference, so I think we have come a long in the development of the state capital but there’s still more that needs to be done for us to move forward as a state.
All over the country, there’s an outcry because of the fuel subsidy removal. Do you think the process was done rightly? And what do you think should have been done better?
Actually one would keep wondering what this present government has for this country. Having come in, I would think they would tread on the path of caution, to slow down on certain policies especially policies that are anti-people. They just came in and as if they are not aware of the plight of the people before they came in. The kind of torture that people went through 8 years before their arrival on stage. They didn’t evaluate the cash crunch, the COVID and all that. So they just came in with another package that will further push people down the drain. For me that policy came at a very wrong time and the it is not necessary.
The fuel removal thing, even though some argue it’s a good, the government even before that policy didn’t look at the corruption that was in that industry. I don’t even think the issue is around removal of subsidy, the issues lies around the corruption in the subsidy that was there before not serving the needs of the country or the government itself. What I thought they would do was to go back to the industry, subject it to critical examination, look at their operations and from there tackle the problem from the roots because right now they are just tackling the symptoms. And since the removal we have never felt the removal, nobody has reported to us the amount of mines they reap from this policies, it could be in trillions because the population of Nigerians. If I’m been very objective about it, so much has come into the coffers of the government and it’s from the pocket of the people. These are people that have suffering even before now, and now the government has to dip their hands deep into their pockets to make sure that everything they have is given back to the same government that has nothing to offer to the people so for me, this is a very unfortunate phenomenon. How I wish the government will reverse this policy because it is anti-people and it will not yield positive result even in the side of the economy.bwcause the corruption they have. Not been able to deal with, this money will end up in the pockets of people again.
Now the worst thing about this is the palliative measure. This is one of the greatest insults. These people are really taking Nigerians for granted. I never thought enlightened people with such political placement can think about their fellow humans in that way. For me, it is the greatest act of humiliation to tell Nigerians that we gave a household the sum of 8000 a month. For a normal household in Nigeria,you can be sure that they have up to 10 people and if you divide this 8000 by 10 you will have 800 and if you divide that 800 by 30 that will be less than 50 naira. Is this not an insult? You are rasing the fuel price to up to 600 and you are cushioning the hardship of the people by giving them less than 50 naira. I just think these people are taking Nigerians for granted and I don’t think this will continue for long. There’s a level to which you can push people who are already distressed and hungry. Time shall come when Nigerians will no longer take the rubbish that the so called politicians are trying to met out to them, and I think the earlier the better, the earlier they know about this the better. They can’t treat any human being like that talk more of citizens who voted them into power. You can’t begin an administration by inflicting hardship on your people, this is not acceptable. So many things are just questionable about this policy. They don’t have to wait for NLC to do something, they should think and do something by themselves. The case of Adamawa recently where people took the streets breaking warehouses and carting away with things, as I have said earlier, there’s a level to which you will push people and when they react you will not be able to control them. These are people that are literally hungry. I have seen a lot, everybody is crying, everyone is calling, students, the displaced, so Nigerians are terribly hungry and they don’t know the way out because the issues are burdening. As you know a hungry man is a very angry person.
The President had earlier presented the list of ministerial nominees to the Senate and screening is ongoing. What do you make of the selection process?
I think it’s rather unfortunate because one would think that at this stage of our political history we should have grown in our methodology of appointing people into certain key offices where they will provide the required services but it’s like we are going back to the vicious circle of bringing in people who are political cohorts, those who stood by the politicians during electioneering campaign. They are not looking at the quality, or competence, they are rather bringing premodial sentiments. Moreover the names shortlisted were without portfolios, how can you screen someone whose responsibility you are not sure of. I would think portfolios would be attached so that they are screened based on their competence in that area.
Nigerians expected the national assembly to question it but you know Nigerians talk about Rubber stamp assembly, maybe they are just there to rubber-stamp what comes from the executives. Unfortunately most politicians are just looking for a ground where they can just make both ends meet. They are not thinking of the people that brought them into office, otherwise they should have thought of questioning this selection without portfolios. Nigerians are not even sure of the future of democracy in this country because things are not done they way they should be done.
The coup d’etat in Niger is creating a lot of regional tensions. What is your take on the development so far?
If we want to tell ourselves the truth, then we must agree that we have not gotten it right when it comes to embracing and living the democratic culture that we inherited from the West. It is not a culture we are familiar with even though it is believed to be the best form of government that will address our problems. Unfortunately we are not getting it right. From one country to another, we are not living up to the expectations of democracy. That is why you are seeing the phenomenal of coup d’etat in Africa. In the specific case of Niger Republic, the people celebrated the coup because the civilian administration there was not meeting their needs just as we have here in Nigeria. So if the people are happy with the military take over, it means the Democratic system failed them. So what is the business of Nigeria in Niger when we have serious issues with our own democracy? Infact, some people are even of the opinion that the present administration in Nigeria also came in through a civilian Coup because people argue that a lot of things went wrong during the election and the processing of the results and that is why people are still in Court contesting the process. So personally, I would not advice the Nigerian government to be in a hurry to take any serious action in Niger. We must tread with caution even though the President is the Chairman of ECOWAS. They should put their house in order before contemplating an action in another country. In any case, I will never support a military solution to this problem. It is never the best. I will rather advocate for dialogue and negotiations. If Nigerian government and the ECOWAS is insisting that something is wrong in Niger but the people are happy what is giving us cause for worry, taking any military action may be very detrimental as you will need the support of the people you want to liberate or so to say, to be able to execute the operation anyway.
Politics is considered a dirty game. To what extent should the Church be involved in this game?
Nigeria as a country is a circular state, in the sense that it is yet to adopt any religion as the national religion. For the Catholic Church, we are all humans and so we participate in politics. However, partisan politics is the exclusive preserve of the laity. The clergy are supposed to be a political. However, the Church has a role to play on conscientising people to participate actively in partizan politics because if the people do not participate, they will not know what is there. They will not have the opportunity to bring the Christian values of justice and peace, truth and fairness and inclusiveness as well as promoting the common good of everyone to bear in the political landscape. So the Church encourages the laity to go into politics so that they can sanitize it. If the good people do not go into politics, it means the bad ones will have a field day and the circle of afflictions will continue. It means they will continue to do the nonsense things they are doing in this country. So the Catholic Church encourages the laity to get actively involved so that they can change things for good. So basically, there is a relationship between the Church and politics in the sense that the Church is dealing with people who are political beings and so must get involved to some extent especially in terms of sensitization. Nigeria is supposed to be the giant of Africa and that requires that things are done rightly and with consideration to everyone. Unfortunately, some people politicize even issues of religion and it is of great concern. For instance, the constitution of Nigeria emphasis the circularity of the country. But then some leaders deliberately or otherwise do not understand the concept of circularity, explore the opportunity they have to undermine that status. That is why you have a situation where people lawlessly murder others in mob actions in defense of a portion of their religion. There is no respect for other people’s religious tenets. It is unfortunate. That is why it is very important for the constitution to be thoroughly reviewed so that some of these issues can be addressed. I would also expect the media to step up their watch and objective tackling of the issues.
The value systems of Nigerians is deteriorating very fast especially among the young persons. What are the reasons for this and the way forward?
Generally, every sector of the Nigerian system is collapsing and so the value systems or morality is no exceptions. In the past, the elders were the reservoirs of moral treasures and the younger ones usually looked up to them for moral directions. Unfortunately, the younger ones can not also look up to the elders for moral directions because the elders have also compromised their value standards. We have a democratic system where service is no longer a priority. We have a system where the elders have shown the younger generation that integrity is no longer something to hold in high esteem. Good name is suddenly despicable. The only thing that counts is power and wealth. And so people are more concerned with acquiring wealth and power and can openly engage in national disgrace on national television without a molecule of shame. So far as there is money, respect can be bought or coerced. Traditional and religious rulers now go to pay homage to political leaders for a share of the national cake and a show of loyalty. It is a travesty. How do you expect a traditional leader who goes cap in hand to the politician to challenge them when they go wrong? And the younger generations are watching. So it is an unfortunate circle. The family which is supposed to be the holy grail of moral upbringing is also not helping matters much. There is a dangerous disconnect between the parents and their children because people pay more attention to their careers and businesses than the family. Unfortunately, the general economic downturn has left most families with no choice than to leave each family members to fend for themselves. It really doesn’t matter much if they resort to criminal acts to make ends meet. In terms of education, previously, there was keen supervision of the school system to ensure that that the teachers do the right thing and students were impacted positively. That is no longer tenable. One of the most terrible things now is the social media and it’s uncontrolled usage. Despite it’s huge advantages for growth and propagation of positive values, it’s uncontrolled usage also means that people have access to all sorts of information and content. These days, young persons are very comfortable posting nudity and other harmful contents just to gain social media popularity. Again, and sadly so, the parents are too busy to monitor the activities of their children on these platforms. If you can buy a smartphone for your child, is it too much to at least check in once in a while to monitor what they do with the phones? So it’s very unfortunate but basically, we need to go back to the ancient ways, embrace our value systems, path attention to the family and upbringing of the children even as we strive hard to be living models of moral uprightness for the younger generations.
Nigeria is certainly confronted with a myriad of problems. What is the way forward in your opinion?
Well, for us to move ahead as a country, we need to come back to our senses. We have gone astray as a people and as a nation. We have lost our footing and don’t seem to think correctly. It seems nobody thinks about the common good of the country. No one thinks about the younger generations. It seems people only think about themselves and what will benefit them strictly. So for me, the mindset must first of all change. We must be able to look beyond our personal interests, be they individual or tribal. Unfortunately, we use religion to promote these interests especially politicians. It is therefore important for Nigerians to become conscious of what is happening and think of what we can do collectively to move forward. We must demystify the gimmicks our so called elites use against us. They come to us for votes and once they get elected or make their way into seat of power, they priority become vote a lot of resources for themselves, forgetting about the masses. It is therefore for the people to become conscious and fight for their rights. We must be able to speak truth to power. We must be able to stand up against anti people policies and let the leadership know that they can not continue to take the people for granted. Nigerians can no longer tolerate this. We must work collectively to take our rightful place in the committee of nations. We must realign our value systems and move away from this wealth at all cost mentality. For now, our priority is to restore peace and peaceful coexistence among the various groups in the diocese. But then of course, you know that the physical infrastructure must also be given a too priority. We need a pastoral centre for instance, where we can have our annual retreats, a secretariat, halls and accommodations and such infrastructure. We also need a cathedral where the people can worship. We also need to set up the right administrative structures that will facilitate the implementation of the diocesan agenda. I’m talking about structures such as the Commissions, the Diocesan Curial, bringing in the right leadership for the Curial and leadership of the various commissions. When I came in, I created the Commission on Dialogue, Ecumenism and Reconciliation so that the members will focus on the issue of dialogue with the traditional institutions, civil authorities, other elites and other stakeholders in the diocese to foster peace and unity and also the development of the area. We also have so many other Commissions like that such as the Youth Commission, JDPC, Education Commission, health Commission and others. So despite the focus on peace, we are also focusing on the physical and administrative infrastructural development and hope to carry all of these along simultaneously.
The coup d’etat in Niger is creating a lot of regional tensions. What is your take on the development so far?
If we want to tell ourselves the truth, then we must agree that we have not gotten it right when it comes to embracing and living the democratic culture that we inherited from the West. It is not a culture we are familiar with even though it is believed to be the best form of government that will address our problems. Unfortunately we are not getting it right. From one country to another, we are not living up to the expectations of democracy. That is why you are seeing the phenomenal of coup d’etat in Africa. In the specific case of Niger Republic, the people celebrated the coup because the civilian administration there was not meeting their needs just as we have here in Nigeria. So if the people are happy with the military take over, it means the Democratic system failed them. So what is the business of Nigeria in Niger when we have serious issues with our own democracy? Infact, some people are even of the opinion that the present administration in Nigeria also came in through a civilian Coup because people argue that a lot of things went wrong during the election and the processing of the results and that is why people are still in Court contesting the process. So personally, I would not advice the Nigerian government to be in a hurry to take any serious action in Niger. We must tread with caussion even though the President is the Chairman of ECOWAS. They should put their house in order before contemplating an action in another country. In any case, I will never support a military solution to this problem. It is never the best. I will rather advocate for dialogue and negotiations. If Nigerian government and the ECOWAS is insisting that something is wrong in Niger but the people are happy what is giving us cause for worry, taking any military action may be very detrimental as you will need the support of the people you want to liberate or so to say, to be able to execute the operation anyway.
Politics is considered a dirty game. To what extent should the Church be involved in this game?
Nigeria as a country is a circular state, in the sense that it is yet to adopt any religion as the national religion. For the Catholic Church, we are all humans and so we participate in politics. However, partisan politics is the exclusive preserve of the laity. The clergy are supposed to be a political. However, the Church has a role to play on conscientising people to participate actively in partizan politics because if the people do not participate, they will not know what is there. They will not have the opportunity to bring the Christian values of justice and peace, truth and fairness and inclusiveness as well as promoting the common good of everyone to bear in the political landscape. So the Church encourages the laity to go into politics so that they can sanitize it. If the good people do not go into politics, it means the bad ones will have a field day and the circle of afflictions will continue. It means they will continue to do the nonsense things they are doing in this country. So the Catholic Church encourages the laity to get actively involved so that they can change things for good. So basically, there is a relationship between the Church and politics in the sense that the Church is dealing with people who are political beings and so must get involved to some extent especially in terms of sensitization. Nigeria is supposed to be the giant of Africa and that requires that things are done rightly and with consideration to everyone. Unfortunately, some people politicize even issues of religion and it is of great concern. For instance, the constitution of Nigeria emphasis the circularity of the country. But then some leaders deliberately or otherwise do not understand the concept of circularity, explore the opportunity they have to undermine that status. That is why you have a situation where people lawlessly murder others in mob actions in defense of a portion of their religion. There is no respect for other people’s religious tenets. It is unfortunate. That is why it is very important for the constitution to be thoroughly reviewed so that some of these issues can be addressed. I would also expect the media to step up their watch and objective tackling of the issues.
The value systems of Nigerians is deteriorating very fast especially among the young persons. What are the reasons for this and the way forward?
Generally, every sector of the Nigerian system is collapsing and so the value systems or morality is no exceptions. In the past, the elders were the reservoirs of moral treasures and the younger ones usually looked up to them for moral directions. Unfortunately, the younger ones can not also look up to the elders for moral directions because the elders have also compromised their value standards. We have a democratic system where service is no longer a priority. We have a system where the elders have shown the younger generation that integrity is no longer something to hold in high esteem. Good name is suddenly despicable. The only thing that counts is power and wealth. And so people are more concerned with acquiring wealth and power and can openly engage in national disgrace on national television without a molecule of shame. So far as there is money, respect can be bought or coerced. Traditional and religious rulers now go to pay homage to political leaders for a share of the national cake and a show of loyalty. It is a travesty. How do you expect a traditional leader who goes cap in hand to the politician to challenge them when they go wrong? And the younger generations are watching. So it is an unfortunate circle. The family which is supposed to be the holy grail of moral upbringing is also not helping matters much. There is a dangerous disconnect between the parents and their children because people pay more attention to their careers and businesses than the family. Unfortunately, the general economic downturn has left most families with no choice than to leave each family members to fend for themselves. It really doesn’t matter much if they resort to criminal acts to make ends meet. In terms of education, previously, there was keen supervision of the school system to ensure that that the teachers do the right thing and students were impacted positively. That is no longer tenable. One of the most terrible things now is the social media and it’s uncontrolled usage. Despite it’s huge advantages for growth and propagation of positive values, it’s uncontrolled usage also means that people have access to all sorts of information and content. These days, young persons are very comfortable posting nudity and other harmful contents just to gain social media popularity. Again, and sadly so, the parents are too busy to monitor the activities of their children on these platforms. If you can buy a smartphone for your child, is it too much to at least check in once in a while to monitor what they do with the phones? So it’s very unfortunate but basically, we need to go back to the ancient ways, embrace our value systems, path attention to the family and upbringing of the children even as we strive hard to be living models of moral uprightness for the younger generations.
Nigeria is certainly confronted with a myriad of problems. What is the way forward in your opinion?
Well, for us to move ahead as a country, we need to come back to our senses. We have gone astray as a people and as a nation. We have lost our footing and don’t seem to think correctly. It seems nobody thinks about the common good of the country. No one thinks about the younger generations. It seems people only think about themselves and what will benefit them strictly. So for me, the mindset must first of all change. We must be able to look beyond our personal interests, be they individual or tribal. Unfortunately, we use religion to promote these interests especially politicians. It is therefore important for Nigerians to become conscious of what is happening and think of what we can do collectively to move forward. We must demystify the gimmicks our so called elites use against us. They come to us for votes and once they get elected or make their way into seat of power, they priority become vote a lot of resources for themselves, forgetting about the masses. It is therefore for the people to become conscious and fight for their rights. We must be able to speak truth to power. We must be able to stand up against anti people policies and let the leadership know that they can not continue to take the people for granted. Nigerians can no longer tolerate this. We must work collectively to take our rightful place in the committee of nations. We must realign our value systems and move away from this wealth at all cost mentality. For now, our priority is to restore peace and peaceful coexistence among the various groups in the diocese. But then of course, you know that the physical infrastructure must also be given a too priority. We need a pastoral centre for instance, where we can have our annual retreats, a secretariat, halls and accommodations and such infrastructure. We also need a cathedral where the people can worship. We also need to set up the right administrative structures that will facilitate the implimentation of the diocesan agenda. I’m talking about structures such as the Commissions, the Diocesan Curial, bringing in the right leadership for the Curial and leadership of the various commissions. When I came in, I created the Commission on Dialogue, Ecumenism and Reconciliation so that the members will focus on the issue of dialogue with the traditional institutions, civil authorities, other elites and other stakeholders in the diocese to foster peace and unity and also the development of the area. We also have so many other Commissions like that such as the Youth Commission, JDPC, Education Commission, health Commission and others. So despite the focus on peace, we are also focusing on the physical and administrative infrastructural development and hope to carry all of these along simultaneously.