By Akoma Chinweoke

The Catholic  Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, says there is an urgent need to address the severely limited presence of a Catholic ethos in  Nigeria’s public space of politics and economics. The trend, he, however, pointed out was not peculiar to Nigeria but  also to Africa and the world at large.

“For us in Nigeria, our inability to fight  back and regain our schools after the take-over in 1970 is part of the evidence our own internal lack of focus and determination to assert influence in public life”, Kukah said.   He went on: “Today, the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, is one of the greatest enemies of the Church in the the fight for the return of the schools.

Bishop Matthew Kukah

In truth, we have not had any concerted attempt at dealing with this problem, but, given the sheer number of Catholic lawyers and others in public life, it is a shame that this battle has never really been truly fought except in places  like Anambra and Lagos. “Elsewhere, we have simply waited in the hope for a government to take a decision in our favour on this matter.

It is sad  but consoling that we have come late to the platform of tertiary education by way of the Catholic University in Nigeria. Notwithstanding this, it is gratifying that we are picking up steam.. What is required now is a concerted effort to make the Catholic University the prestigious citadel of sound learning.

Sadly, more and more Catholic parents  are not aware of the urgent need to support the Catholic University which is the breeding ground for the seeds of our Catholic future”.

The bishop, who spoke  at the 38th Supreme Council Convention of the Knights of St. Mulumba, in St. Leo Catholic Church, Ikeja, Lagos  on  the topic: The Catholic Family and the Crisis of Modernity, noted that, perhaps, nowhere are the casualties of modernity to be found more than in the family.