…says Nigerians are living in fear
…charges govt on transparency

CALEB AYANSINA

ABUJA – The Primate, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Most Revd Nicholas Okoh has said that the Federal Government’s efforts to use agriculture to drive the country’s economy might not yield the desire results, if issue of herdsmen menace are not properly handled.

The cleric also identified policy on grazing reserve as another threat against agricultural development in the country, describing it as a manifest favouritism, which holds no good for the nation.

Okoh was speaking at opening ceremony of the Six Edition of the Divine Commonwealth Conference (DIVCCON) with the theme; “Fear Not” (2 Kings 6:16), held at the National Christian Centre, Abuja.

He noted that fear of being attacked by herdsmen had forced majority of farmers to flee from their areas, adding that agricultural policies could not be driven without the grass root dwellers.

Okoh maintained that lukewarm attitude displayed by the government towards the matter is creating more problems; therefore, government must rise up to its responsibility and save the country from sliding into another civil war.

Primate of the Anglican Church in Nigeria, Most Reverend Nicholas Okoh

He said; “Fear of herdsmen menace is another key source of fear around the country side. Innocent citizens are attacked in their homeland by herdsmen, who are heavily armed.

“In an administration that aims at promoting agriculture, people cannot go to their farms for fear of being killed, raped, maimed, etc.

“Wherever the herdsmen are coming from, whether Nigerians or not, our call is for the federal government to disarm them, and save our country from degenerating into another civil war.”

On grazing reserve, the Primate added; “the manner of approach the federal government gave the issue grazing reserve is a source of worry. Every business person in this country, wherever the business may domicile, acquires his/her facilities.

“How can the business of the herdsmen rearing their animals become such a national issue that will involve legislation? If the herdsmen must leave their immediate environment to do their business, they should acquire whatever facility they may need like any other Nigerian. This manifest favouritism does not hold any good for our nation.”

On the state of the nation, Okoh further noted that Nigerians currently are living in perpetual sense of fear of all forms; ranging from terrorism, militancy, unemployment, recession, islamization, among others.

The Primate said that the people’s perception of the present administration was responsible for the mistrust, as the direction of the government was not clear on the issue of national unity giving the actions of the government that seemed to sideline some and favour some.

According to him, “Fear is a very bad thing and it would appear as if the government is not taking adequate knowledge of what these fears are.

“That the actions and activities of government or lack of actions in certain areas are generating fear in the heart of people and when there is fear, people act irrationally because they don’t have adequate information.”

The cleric insisted that government at all levels should take transparency and accountability as their watch words, adding that ignoring people and their demand always leads to anarchy.

“It is important for government through actions and explanations to take away fear from the people. It is therefore important for government to recognise that this is a problem and take adequate steps to remedy them.

“It will not be right to say ‘don’t mind them’ because after all said and done, government is about people,” Okoh stressed.

The Primate explained that DIVCCON was designed to bring Christians in Nigeria under one roof to understand the teaching of the Christian Church, practice it and relate with other people in a more acceptable way, this he added, the conference had achieved in the past six years.