Kwara Diocese of Anglican Church has floated multi-million Naira agricultural farm to address food security and food sufficiency in the country.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Wednesday as part of activities marking 50th anniversary of the church, the Bishop of the Anglican Church, Rt. Reverend Sunday Adewole, said that the church planned to plant mainly cassava and maize on 25 hectares of land starting next farming season.
The cleric, who is also the chairman of Kwara state branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), lamented economic hardship in the country, saying that the agricultural venture is an investment aimed to encourage youth employment and capacity building that would cushion economic situation of members of the church and general public.
He said a female member of the Church has donated 500 bags of fertilizer towards actualization of the agricultural project, describing the project as laying a blueprint for next 50 years.
As part of other investment programmes of the church, Bishop Sunday Adewole also said that the church has secured a land to build a multi million Naira 3,500-capacity event hall in Ilorin, the state capital in 2025.
He said that the church planned to upgrade a skill acquisition centre that was established by women in the church with requisite equipment, shops and financial capacity.
On the state of the nation, the cleric blamed the current sociopolitical challenges on both the leadership and followership in the polity.
Bishop Adewole, who said that the present administration is trying to fix myriad of challenges bedevilling the country, said that majority of the population outside government are not better than political office holders.
The Bishop of Kwara Diocese of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) also appealed to the federal government to re-absorb retired Military and Police officers into the security system to check insecurity in the rural areas in the country.
He said that re-absorbing retired officers into the security system would assist government to strengthen the success already gained in checking insecurity in various parts of the country, especially, in the rural areas.
Adewole while noting that the people of the country are currently facing hardship as a result of the astronomical increase in food prices however appealed to the government to review the fuel subsidy removal and other programmes that are not favourable to the people’s welfare.
“Since the removal of fuel subsidy, I have not seen its positive effect on the people, any programme of the government that does not carry human face should be dropped.
“Though we need infrastructure such as roads, but stomach infrastructure which will allow people their regular meals is very important”.
He also advised the government to cut down drastically the cost of governance by paying elected and appointed officials sitting allowance instead of the salaries being paid to them.
Speaking on the achievements of Kwara Diocese of the Church in it 50years of existence, Adewole said that the Church had established many schools and skills acquisition center to train people in various skills.
He, however, lamented that the take over of the mission schools by the Government in the 1970s had led to falling moral decadence among the youth in the society.
He said that 27 members of the Church would be dedicated during the grand finale of the Diocese anniversary celebration which would also attract the visit of the Primate of the Church, Most Reverend Henry Ndukuba to Kwara state on Sunday, November 3, 2024.
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