Synod President and Bishop of Kaduna Diocese, Rev Dr Timothy Yahaya has warned that the next generation would not forgive Nigeria if schools are shut down over Boko Haram and bandits attacks.
He spoke at the weekend, after the Kaduna Diocese of Anglican Communion ended its 22nd Synod.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the Synod, the cleric said: “On the calls for break up of Nigeria. If you give Biafra today, only in Imo state the Okigwe and Orlu men will fight over who becomes the leader. If we have a problem as Nigerians, let us agree that we have a problem and solve the problem.”
He noted that “the world is becoming global today, so all these idea of we want to leave is because there are problems in the current state of Nigeria. If those problems disappear, everyone will want to fly the flag of Nigeria and carry the green passport and say I am a Nigerian.”
Yahaya said, “Our leaders should hear this very clearly, don’t pretend there is a problem in Nigeria: a problem of marginalization, a problem of oppression, a problem of segregation, a problem of religious differences. People don’t think about Nigeria first, they think by their religion, region and tribes.
“Secessionists are calling for secession because there is injustice at the centre. But when everyone is happy, nobody will care who is a Yoruba, Tiv, Igbo or Kanuri, they will only see themselves as one Nigerians. America is more diversed that Nigeria, yet they live as a nation and they are very happy and they are the giant of the world. In our diversity is our strength, in our diversity is the beauty of live.
“If we don’t restructure this country, to solve the numerous challenges we find ourselves, it is my prayer that this big and great nation, this wonderful and prosperous nation will not be submerged one day. May God forbid that.
“We also call on all Nigerians to eschew hatred and all forms of bigotry. The people that are aggrieved should be called to the discussion table. We must remember that all the wars that have been fought in the history of the world were resolved on the discussion table. Blood and lives of human beings are sacred, therefore, all those that have grievances should come to the discussion table and we solve our problems, afterall, we are all brothers in humanity.
“On the attacks on schools, we are disturbed that it is only in Nigeria that things happen and happen again. The philosophy of Boko Haram is that, western education is a crime and today, they are attacking schools. They started in the North East and it is now spreading to all over the place. One day, this country would not be able to run school.
“Why are the schools not safe despite the ‘Safe the school initiative’? Where is the money for that project? It is only in Nigeria that you can budget for safe the school program and the schools are not safe. In Nigeria, the more you budget for power, the more darkness you have, the more you budget for security, the more insecured we are what kind of a nation are we?
“The next generation will not forgive us if schools are shutdown. The only sure foundation for development is number one education. We are today loosing foreign investment because people think we are not serious.
“If we want to practice federalism in Nigeria, let us practice federalism in the true sense of it. If we want to practice a unitry system of government, let us do that. These things are failing because we have a constitution that is confused; a unitry constitution called a federal constitution, how do you expect children in schools to be safe?
“We should be ashamed that, the next generation will write in the annals of history that when we went to school, schools were safe and in our days in school, they gave us milk and all manner of goodies, including soap to bathe, but today, their parents are paying to send then to school only for kidnappers to come and abduct the. We must right the wrongs and rewrite the history of this country.”
Commenting on the theme of the Synod “For This God Is Our God”, the bishop said: “We got the theme from Psalm 48:14. And why is God leading us to talk about this is that, if you look at what is happening in Njgeria, they didn’t happen in Rwanda and we saw the massacre there. Things that are happening in Nigeria didn’t happen in Somalia but look at where Somalia is today and you can go on and on.
“Nations of the world are almost obliterated by violence and all sort of crisis because of things that have happened that are not even up to 10 per cent of what is happening in Nigeria. But this God has being the God of Nigeria. At times it will seem like the next day Nigeria will disappear, but God has kept Nigeria till now. This God is truly the God of Nigeria.
“Secondly, if you look at the nature of stealing in Nigeria, Nigeria is the richest country in the world as far as I am concerned, no wonder they steal and steal and Nigeria is still moving. The amount of money stolen in Nigeria, if 10 per cent of it is stolen in Europe of America, their economy will crash, they will have no government. People steal in trillions in Nigeria yet God is still keeping us.
“If you look at the level of mutual distrust among Nigerians, which is unfortunate, when we were growing, we didn’t know who was a Muslim and who was a Christian, who came from the North or South, we were all Nigerians, we were all brothers. But when you look at how divided we are today, when someone is talking on a national television, no matter how truthful and objective he is, we begin to took at his religious and ethnic background and that determines whether what you are saying is accepted or not.
“My dear people of God, one of the lectures in this synod is national rebirth. There is need for Nigeria to be born again; we need to change from our ways, we need to bless Nigeria, we need to begin to say this country can only be built by our sweat, by our efforts, by our sacrifices.”