Says “Religious institutions should stop institutionalizing poverty”

By Juliet Ebirim

In a bid to provide answers to questions on the issue of poverty in Nigeria, Louis Nwabueze Ezeilo, a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Awka, Nigeria has launched a book titled “Who is poor and why? Conceptual Pluralism approach to poverty in Nigeria”. The event which held recently at the Holy Family Catholic Church, Festac, Lagos had dignitaries in attendance.

Father Louis

Speaking at the event, Fr. Ezeilo whose interests borders on the issue of poverty and how to create an inclusive environment for a better economic and human development in Nigeria said “The problem of poverty remains one of the most challenging issues in our world today. Poverty as a global problem affects continents, regions, nations and peoples in different ways.

It is also a fact that no nation is absolutely free from poverty. But the difference lies in the prevalence and intensity of this phenomenon in a particular country. That’s why we need to know who is really poor and why and also some of the factors responsible for poverty in the country” he said

In the book, Rev. Fr. Ezeilo demonstrated his exceptional intellectual status as he presented issues related to the concept of poverty in Nigeria. He lamented that despite the great rich natural resources, Nigeria still suffers from high rate of poverty with very low human development index in terms of health, welfare and education. “I had to do an indepth research by visiting various communities so as to have a classic representation of the various concepts of poverty and ‘the poor’ and the various strategies that would help to ameliorate the incidence of poverty.” he reiterated.

He however added that the government, elites and other institutions enrich themselves under the guise of fighting poverty. He called on religious institutions and “so-called men of God should stop institutionalizing poverty by making people stay in church for 24 hours, thereby encouraging laziness in the name of working for God.”.