By Ankeli Emmanuel, Sokoto
Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah has described Nigeria as such a wonderful country were non continuity where programmes and policies designed to help alleviate sufferings of the poor masses becomes and conduit pipe for enrichment by the fortunate few.
“In Nigeria, anything that is put on the ground to help ordinary people becomes food for the big people”.
Bishop Kukah who was reacting to the current reality of climate change while flagging off tree planting at the St. Kelvin Catholic Church, Gidan Dare in Sokoto, said desertification continues to hit us harder despite numerous efforts to stop it on papers.
While making reference to the “Great Green Wall”, Kukah said Nigerians are still waiting to see the materialization of the initiative.
“Then we were told that effort was being made to stop desertification. They talked about the Great Green Wall. But up till today, we have never seen the green neither do we see the wall. We didn’t even see a blue or black wall. All we know is that we don’t have the wall, but the money has gone to where most monies in Nigeria normally will go to”, Bishop Kukah lamented.
Continuing, Bishop Kukah said successive leadership in Nigeria are unique for abandoning projects and programmes initiated by their predecessors.
“Rather than continuing and ensure completion, successive leaders in Nigeria sees projects, policies and programmes from past leaders as not their own and should therefore be discarded. And some times, leaders discontinue certain projects, when they realized that huge monies paid for them have gone into the thin air with nothing to show for it”.
Appreciating the Bakhita Initiative – JDPC Sokoto for marking the World Environment Day with Tree-Planting Exercise at St. Kelvin Catholic Church Gidan Dare and St. Patrick Catholic Church, Raymond Village all in Sokoto.
Kukah further noted that the exercise was in obedience to the injunction of the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria that all Dioceses are mandated to observe World Environment Day annually as part of the Church’s commitment to the care and protection of creation.
The excercise had it’s them as, “A Tree Today, Shade For Tomorrow: The Bakhita Initiative – JDPC Sokoto Takes Action for a Greener Future” and shows the commitment of the Church to environmental stewardship, while encouraging individuals and communities to take greater responsibility for protecting and restoring the environment.
Bakhita initiative urged people to go beyond the act of planting trees and focus on the broader message of creation care, environmental responsibility and embrace collective action to help address the loss of trees and green spaces in Nigerian communities.