Strive for responsible ethos, Archbishop Kaigama urges political leaders, media professionals

By Nwakpa O Nwakpa
The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, has stated that only truthful and responsible actions of political leaders and media professionals can restore Nigeria to the path of progress.

Preaching his homily during the 2021 World Communications Day celebrations at Our Lady Queen of Nigeria Catholic Pro-Cathedral, Abuja,

Archbishop Kaigama insisted that only truth and objectivity can take Nigeria out of its present predicaments. He maintained that while political leaders must insist that electoral processes must be objective, free and fair, media professionals must ensure that they ply their trade ensuring that at all times they are guided only by truthful and responsible journalism.

According to the Archbishop, “information when properly communicated, unifies, it brings progress.

“There must be responsible and accountable use of the media, or else we breed anarchy and confusion. “We must avoid irresponsible use of the media because such breeds and nurtures violence and bad governance”.

He reminded that it is not just trained mass communicators that disseminate information. “All those who use their telephone handsets to send one message or the other also engage in one form of communication or the other.

“We must avoid irresponsible use of the social media in particular, as these have led to the death of several people and helped to propell several other crimes, Kaigama stated. He also cited evil effects of irresponsible use of the social media which led to the death of Miss. Iniobong Umoren, pointing out that the youth should avoid such irresponsible use of the media.

On the part of political leaders, the Catholic cleric advised that “election must be peaceful, it is not war, it is about peace. Elections is the quest to be and work for the people. “We must avoid the winner takes all syndrome.

“We must avoid electoral manipulations, especially at the local government level where the governor and the government in power at the state level simply sweep the polls no matter how hard the other political parties work hard.

“When we violate the peoples’ mandate, we end up not governing well and this is the beginning of bad governance”.He enjoined politicial and administrative leaders to be less selfish and be more magnanimous and public-driven in carrying out their duties, while shunning every act of nepotism and strive for efficiency.

The Archbishop asked Christians to pray to God to give our leaders the spirit of sincere “heart for service, to conduct credible and transparent elections where our votes will count, and also for them to set their priorities right, to take proper care of the youths so they can be meaningfully engaged”.

He asked the nation’s leaders to strive for criminality to stop, asking criminals to desist from their unwholesome activities

.He stated that the Archdiocesan Communications Commission under the chairmanship of Justice Benedict Kanyip, has been playing active role in building a strong Communications Directorate in the Archdiocese, urging them not to rest on their oars.

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