Religious leaders Thursday have appealed to the government to provide food to people at the grassroots because survival is increasingly becoming difficult.
The Imams made the call in Kaduna, on Thursday, adding that it would be dangerous to neglect the hungry poor at this moment of economic hardship.
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE reports that traders and service providers were in the habit of increasing the prices of goods and services daily, attributing it to scarcity, high cost of transportation and the ever rising value of the dollar against the Naira.
The Council of Imams and Ulama in Kaduna State, and bishops in parts of North Central and South West, have cried out that Nigerians were starving from severe hunger and hardship.
Those in Kaduna urged Governor Uba Sani to order the 23 local government chairmen to provide palliatives to the people in their areas.
Leaders of the council, Sheikh Aminu Umdah and Sheikh Idris Muhammad Sabon-Gari said the echo of cries from the poor people needed immediate response.
“We, the council of Imams and Ulama of Kaduna State, are compelled to address the distressing situation of hardship and severe hunger our people are currently facing as a result of the government’s poor policy of fuel subsidy removal.
“We urge the state government to leverage its resources and influence to compel local government chairmen to actively participate in providing essential aid to the distressed masses,” they said.
The imams urged all tiers of government to collaborate to ensure a comprehensive and urgent response to the pressing challenges facing the people.
“The recent distribution of food items and financial aid by the federal government to representatives of the people at the National Assembly and state governments has unfortunately left a significant portion of our beloved citizens grappling with unprecedented hardship.
“The cries of our people echo the need for immediate relief. We, therefore, in earnest, call on Governor Sani, and the federal parliamentarians from Kaduna State to as a matter of urgency, provide succour to the distressed individuals through the distribution of food items to the deserving individuals across the state,” they said.
From the Catholic Bishops of Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province comes a lamentation of the precarious socio-economic situation in the country, saying that “the ship of state is foundering.”
The province, comprising Ibadan Archdiocese, Ilorin, Ondo, Oyo, Ekiti, and Osogbo dioceses, made the statement after a prayerful session at the Jubilee Conference Centre, Ibadan.
According to the Chairman of the bishops in Ibadan, Most Rev. Leke Gabriel Abegunrin, Nigeria was fast becoming a hostile, killing field as evidenced by the regrettable kidnapping and killing of two monarchs; the Elesun of Esun Ekiti, Oba David Babatunde Ogunsakin, and the Olumojo of Imojo Ekiti, Oba Samuel Olusola in Ekiti State and the kidnapping of teachers and school children in the same state.
Abegunrin said the same unfortunate fate befell Oba Peter Segun Aremu, the Olukoro of Koro, Kwara State, whose wife and two others were kidnapped.
“The ship of the nation is foundering under the weight of pervasive insecurity, economic hardship due to hyperinflation and the collapse of the naira, cybercrime, high cost of food, lackadaisical governance, and widespread corruption.
“Day-to-day living is fast becoming an ordeal for millions of Nigerians because of pervasive poverty, driven by the harsh environment which has driven many to desperation and even suicide. It would be nothing short of hypocritical to put all the misery being suffered by Nigerians today down to change in the world economy.
“The truth is that, often, Nigerians are simply left to their own devices and left at the mercy of the most cruel and aggressive criminals by inept and selfish political and civil leaders. In all this, governments often seem weak or altogether absent. Any remedy now is even already too late for many Nigerians who have lost their lives to terrorists, hunger, kidnappers, and sundry disasters. We plead for urgent action from all our leaders to save the Nigerian ship from sinking.
“The much-vaunted renewed hope is turning to utter desperation in many places and there is not much time left,” they said.
