Minna—The Catholic Bishops of Kaduna Ecclesiastical Province have urged the Federal Government to compensate churches and other victims of attacks carried out by insurgents on places of worship.

File Photo: A car burns at the scene of a bomb explosion at St. Theresa Catholic Church at Madalla, Suleja, on December 25, 2011.

Bishop Matthew Ndagoso, their spokesman, made the plea at a briefing in Minna after a two-day Catholic Bishops of Kaduna Ecclesiastical Province plenary session, held at St. Michael Cathedral, Minna.

He said: “In the past six years, insurgents have attacked Churches and other Christian places in the north, but the Federal Government is yet to compensate the victims.

“We want to inform you that the Catholic Church has not   received any support from the Federal Government for the Churches affected. In Niger, the first terrorist attack was on St. Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, on   Dec. 25, 2011.

“Last year, some youths attacked the St. Philips Catholic  Church, Bakin Iku, near Suleja, destroying properties valued at several millions of Naira. No one has even sympathised with us.”

The Bishop opined that the Federal Government was supposed to be responsible for giving assistance to the churches and the victims.

Ndagoso explained that government ought to be responsible for giving assistance to the victims.

The Bishop, who noted that  he had personally suffered from such attacks, said:   “When I was in Maiduguri, my house was destroyed and burnt in my absence. Nothing was taken out of that house. The Church was equally destroyed. Nobody has compensated me or the Church,” he said.

Ndagoso appealed to state  governments  to issue Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) for lands meant for the building of Churches, and urged the Federal Government to encourage the governors to do so to enable the Church to assist development needs of the nation.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the plenary session focused on religious,  socio-political and economic issues affecting the province.