Emmanuel Thomas I Wednesday, February 12, 2025
IBADAN, Nigeria – Catholic Bishops of Ibadan have called for transformative leadership in Nigeria in the light of current socio-economic and political crisis confronting the country.
The Bishops, which made the remarks in a communique issued after a meeting of the Catholic Bishops of Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province in Ibadan said transformative leadership remains the only way to restore hope to Nigerians.
According to them, most Nigerians from different perspectives feel the debilitating effect of poor governance, relentless pursuit of wealth at all costs sidelining of the rule of law, corruption in our institutions and individuals, and the erosion of ethical values and virtues from many years past and a tragic neglect and exploitation of the most vulnerable members of the society.
The Archdiocese said Nigerian needs training on intentional leadership that instills values of integrity, service and moral courage which will not spend valuable time lamenting the woes of the society but which takes decisive action backed by personal sacrifice to counter them.
“In order to restore hope to such a depressed populace, Nigeria urgently needs transformative leadership. It needs training in intentional leadership that instills values of integrity, service and moral courage which will not spend valuable time lamenting the woes of the society but which takes decisive action backed by personal sacrifice to counter them”, the Archdiocese said.
The communiqué added that the Church is committed to providing and supporting transformative education and programs which will equip and inspire the youth with the tools to lead with integrity, reorientate their values by prioritizing hardwork, honesty, solidarity and compassion over crass materialism.
“We are committed through our agencies and personnel to provide mentorship for our youth to learn from experienced leaders to cherish accountability and transparency and teach them how to become themselves pilgrims of hope and reconciliation in our depressed and fractured nation”, the group said and called on government and private institutions to commit to these same noble objectives and more.
“We ask them to provide infrastructure and incentives to train, enable and encourage our people to earn an honest living through better infrastructure. Only if we proceed in this manner can we become together true agents of hope for our country”, the Bishops said.
