The President of the FCT Baptist Conference, Rev. Dogara Gwana, has called for collaborative efforts to promote religious harmony, peaceful coexistence and social cohesion in the country.
Gwana made the appeal on Thursday at a press conference to mark the opening of the 7th Annual Session of the FCT Baptist Conference, holding in Abuja.
He said that the church would partner with the media to pray earnestly for Nigeria to attained its full potential and play prominent role in the comity of nations.
He observed that Nigeria was facing multifaceted challenges, ranging from social unrests, insecurity, and criminality, which required concerted efforts to address.
We appreciate the presidents commitment during the Democracy Day message to Nigeria where he promised to end the insecurity before his tenure ends.
We call on the president to keep his word and mobilise all government apparatus to go after these criminals until they are fully rounded up.
This we believe is within the capacity of our military, if there is government will power and true commitment, Gwana said.
On the closure of universities, he said government and labour unions in the universities must return to the negotiating table.
We appeal to the Federal Government and the leadership of ASUU to return to the negotiating table with the sole aim of rescuing the future of our younger generation, he added.
He also spoke on the high cost of living in the country due to hyper-inflation which has made everyone, both the rich and the poor to cry.
Although the Federal Government has invested heavily into the local rice production, yet the price of even the local rice produced in-country is still at the rooftops.
Foodstuff, transportation and other daily needs of the common man are completely unbearable.
On the 2023 national elections, Gwana expressed concern over the use of money to buy delegates during the political parties primaries, describing the situation as most unfortunate.
He said that government must take punitive measures to curb the trend.
The FCT Baptist president also said any attempt by any political party to pick presidential running mate from same religion would be unfair and unjust.
It is not in keeping with the principles of fair play and equal representation, he added.
He therefore called on the presidential candidates to aim at healing the country and apply wisdom in the actions they would take toward selecting their running mates.
We call on all citizen living in the country to do whatever it takes to get their voters card, in order to be able to participate in the coming general election. Praying is good, but is not enough.
We commend INECs efforts at making the registration easy by establishing more centers and booths.
We are confident that the processleading to the elections will continue in the direction of fairness and justice, he added.
He also called for the return of mission schools taken over in the 70s by government, saying doing so would help their original owners to restore sanity back to the system.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Grace Yusuff
Source: NAN News