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The Catholic Church of Nigeria has decried the deplorable state of prisons condition and the inhuman and unjust treatment of their inmates by the prisons authority in all the thirty six state and the Federal capital territory Abuja.
The Catholic Church of Nigeria over the weekend raised a seven point agenda as burning issues affecting the country for the federal government’s urgent attention.
The issues as contained in its communiqué issued at the end of the 2017 Annual General Meeting of Justice Development and Peace Commissions (JDPC)/Caritas Nigeria, the relief and development agencies of the Catholic Church in Nigeria recently and made available to some news men in Calabar, include, the attempt by the legislature to introduce local government autonomy, human trafficking/illegal migration, bad condition of our prisoners/prisons, internally displaced persons (IDPs), NGO regulatory bill, environmental degradation and kidnapping of catholic clerics.
The communiqué which was drafted by Matthew Ezea (Chairman Drafting Committee) and five others and signed by the National Director of Caritas Nigeria/JDPC. Evaristus Bassey said: “The wave of illegal migration is an indictment on government at all levels, especially Edo State government and the immigration services, as well as the Federal Government. Government should make its programmess accessible to the teeming youths who want to make a good living.
“However there can be no cure for youths whose only desire is to make quick profit and become rich overnight. Such youths use poverty as an excuse to indulge in all kinds of illegal behaviours but really, what stands out is greed and the refusal to start small. We call on government to be hard on human traffickers, especially the collaborators from within the security apparatus of government. We strongly appeal to the government at all levels to immediately tackle the problem of unemployment which is at the root cause of this problem”.
The Catholic Church decried the deplorable state of prisons and the inhuman and unjust treatment of their inmates, particularly those awaiting trial in the country saying “the incessant and unlawful detention of people and the brutality meted out to them by the police is hereby strongly condemned. We join our voices in advocating for the probe of SARS and its review or eventual ban. The Nigerian judiciary is hereby encouraged to redeem the image of this democracy by ensuring the speedy dispensation of justice in accordance with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act”.
On IDPs, the church observed with utmost dismay the reports on the incessant sexual harassments and other unholy practices at IDP camps that have led to loss of confidence on IDP camps and many people affected by this, have once again become displaced and moving into new spaces seeking refuge, “|thereby causing internal conflicts in places like Nassarawa State between the host communities and the internal migrants. We call on government to ensure that this problem is handled properly”.
The JDPC/Caritas noted with great sadness the re-emergence of kidnapping across the country and unfortunate twist is the kidnapping of priests and Religious Sisters, who are gradually turning into endangered species.
As they argued that plans by the legislature to control civil society groups is wrong and worrisome because “no matter how nicely the bill is portrayed, it reveals a legislature that has lost focus and seeks relevance only in stirring up unnecessary controversies”, they noted that “the environment has suffered enormous degradation much of which is due to poor waste management and other unfriendly activities against the environment”..
On Local Government autonomy, the church urged state legislatures to “vote in line with the amendments the national assembly has made in this regard. With time our people shall realize that true governance is at the local level, just as it is said ‘all politics is local’”.
As they called on the Government to urgently address these burning issues raised in this communiqué, “we commend the leaders of Nigerian government into the hands of God, asking Him to direct their ways and make them always realise that they should in fact be servant-leaders”.
MIKE ABANG,Calabar
