By Daniel Tyokua
Former Abuja Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal John Onaiyekan and Ignatius Kaigama, the Bishop of Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, on Friday spoke on CAMA, electricity tariff and fuel hike in the country.
Onaiyekan during the maiden General Assembly of Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, said those that worked on the Companies Allied Matter Act ,CAMA, bill should have involve churches for fair representation of the issues.
He stated that CAMA bill was initiated by the government to regulate activities of worship centres but need to reflect the views of those involved.
According to him, the government should focus more on regulating it institutions and leave churches alone.
Onaiyekan said, “The government has a enough job regulating there own money and they are not regulating it well. They should leave churches alone.
“If they had involved the churches, we would have had ways of making our inputs then all the troubles would have been avoided.
“I was told that the document is big and the issue that is disturbing people is just one article or two. That should not kill the country. Let us pull out that one and I’m sure that should be no problem and it will be possible to remove that article from the bill and let the bill continue its job.
“This is an area we should work together. And if you want to design something that has to deal with the activities of religious organizations then you should bring them in” he said.
He explained that the noise was not helping the country, but creating unnecessary attention.
On the electricity tariff and fuel hike, he said, “President Muhammadu Buhari has told us that he is going to do all he can to make life easier for Nigerians and one of the things he can do is to increase fuel price and electricity tariff.
“This should be put in a wider context. We wouldn’t be complaining if the salaries were also increased. The problems come when you leave people with nothing to eat then you increase things.
However, Ignatius Kaigama the Bishop of Archdiocese of Abuja, in his remarks, said with the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic with other challenges there was the need for christians especially Catholic faithful to renew missionary impulse and sensitivity.
Kaigama asked them to shun the mentality where everyone is for himself or herself and cares only for those who are friends, family or from the same tribe, region, religion or political party.
The first General Assembly with the theme: “Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja: Together in Evangelization” was facilited by Bishop Kaigama.
