State of the nation: An episcopal appraisal

AFTER seven years, St. Mary’s Anglican Church, Oluyole, again played host to the Synod of the Ibadan Anglican Diocese from Thursday the 21st to Sunday the 24th of April 2022.  The synod is a convocation of Church officials made up of the clergy and representatives of the laity brought together on annual basis to review the past, examine the present and make projections  into the future.  While the programme of activities deals mostly with church matters secular issues are not ignored.  As a societal institution, the church cannot t afford to be a passive bystander because it is an active participant in the different spheres of national life.  This explains why the agenda of the synod is not solely centred on the church as a place of worship.   The state of affairs in the polity, especially the security and welfare of the citizenry are also given deserved attention.

While the synod is a four-day affair during which the performance of its various  projects and institutions are subjected to critical examination, its most notable feature is the Bishop’s Charge.  The Bishop’s Charge is a presentation that gives a comprehensive account of activities and developments in the Anglican communion –  with special emphasis on the Ibadan Anglican diocese –  and appraises the performance of those entrusted with the management of the polity. The Bishop’s Charge can be described as the Episcopal equivalent of the speech from the throne.  The Bishop of the Diocese, The Most Revd, Dr. J.O. Akinfenwa, was frank and pungent in his views on the prevailing situation in the country.  ‘’While it is true that what the eyes can see presently can be demoralising, we must not be tired of offering our thoughts on how our nation can become a better place.’’ he said.

With 2023 around the corner, the Bishop noted that politics had taken the centre stage and the two major political parties and their gladiators had started jostling for ascendancy.   He was particularly concerned that rather than focus on important issues of national development, they have been playing the ethnic card.  He saw it as a shame that after two decades of the present democratic dispensation, the political actors are yet to rise above primordial sentiments.  He said the criteria for leadership recruitment should be built around competence and not ethnicity or religion.

The persistent dispute between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff of Universities (ASUU) was viewed with great concern by the bishop as he lamented that public universities had been shut for three-and-a-half years within a period of twenty years.  He contended that a country known to be lagging behind in the development and quality of education should not be jeopardising the chances of its youths in an increasingly global market by neglecting its universities as Nigeria had been doing.  For the epidemic of social vices and delinquent behaviour to be halted and reversed, he urged the government to take decisive steps on education and youth employment.  He said the government should honour its agreement with ASUU while the university teachers should, on their part, come out with a modus vivendi that would ensure uninterrupted academic calendar.

Bishop Akinfenwa said the media as the major platform for engaging with the electorate in a  democracy should be free and vibrant.  In the light of this, he continued, a truly democratic government should not interfere with the independence of the media.  ‘’Even though media censorship had been covered with a veneer, it reveals itself in the failure of the Nigerian press to bring to light news that are products of any remarkable investigative reporting.’’ he averred.  His position was that the Federal Government had not been able to resist the temptation to intimidate or manipulate the media.  He concurred with the general view that security constituted a serious challenge to Nigeria and called on the government to muster the political will to do the needful so that Nigeria could be free from terrorism, banditry and kidnapping.

The nagging problem of electricity did not escape the Bishop’s attention as a national nightmare for many decades.  He said government after government had been making fantastic promises only to keep plunging Nigeria more and more into darkness. He aligned himself with the idea of an off-grid power generation and distribution and urged stake holders to ensure that the initiative did not end up on paper.  He saw full deregulation which would bring on board sub-national entities and the private sector as the way out of Nigeria’s power supply crisis and called for a clear-cut programme that would liberalise the use of solar power.  The bishop expressed satisfaction that the Lagos—Ibadan Expressway was nearing completion and suggested that electronic devices  be put in place to check speeding and minimise road accidents.   He gave kudos to the government of Oyo State for keeping faith with the priorities it  set for itself in payment of salaries, development projects and investment in public schools.. He, however, called for a heightened focus on security in the light of ritual killings and a recent robbery in Ibadan.

On behalf of the synod, he congratulated the new Olubadan of Ibadan,  Dr. Moshood Olalekan Balogun,  whom he described as a man of good pedigree and thus stands on a good ground to make a great impact on the development of the city of Ibadan.

• Olatoye, a veteran journaist, lives in Ibadan.

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