Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Lafia, Rt. Rev. Godwin Robinson, has called on the Federal Government to be proactive and adopt a people-centered approach to governance to mitigate the hardship in the country.
The Bishop made the call in his homily on Saturday, November 30, at the St James Cathedral Lafia, an event to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the Diocese.
He noted that people are going through a lot of difficulties in terms of the daily increase in the prices of goods and services, security, and morality bankruptcy, among others.
He said that the government had promised to make the lives of the people better and improve their welfare during electioneering and urged them to fulfill those promises.
He said that the government at all levels must desist from further introducing policies that would add more hardships to the people.
He advised leaders at all levels to ensure that they leave the country better than they met it, in terms of the economy, security, and general welfare of the citizenry.
He, however, commended the government for the efforts toward tackling the economy and security challenges but said that they needed to redouble their efforts in that respect.
On the silver jubilee of the church, the Bishop said that the Diocese had made tremendous progress within 25 years after its creation.
“We started with only four archdeaconries and 27 Priests, but today, we have 20 archdeaconries and four Deaneries, over 90 Priests, 40 evangelists and more than 30 Primary and Secondary Schools spread across the 13 Local Government Areas of the state.
“We have built and dedicated a Bishop residence, and we will inaugurate a Diocesan Secretariat today.
“We also planned to commence Pastoral Centre along Kurikyo Road in Lafia, which will serve as a hub for retreat, recreation and spiritual rejuvenation,” he added.
The Anglican Bishop further said that the church had countless reasons to thank God for the progress made over the last 25 years.
He added that thanksgiving unlocks a treasure of blessings, dismantles the power of negativity, and draws the people closer to God.
He, therefore, reminded the people to always give thanks to God and do things that bring praise to his name to help reclaim the country back to God.
On his part, Rt. Rev. Emmanuel Nyitsse, Bishop, Anglican Diocese of Gboko, Benue State who came to rejoice with Lafia Diocese on the celebration, commended the Bishop of Lafia for the feat achieved.
On the security situation in the country, the bishop said some successes were made, but appealed to the government and citizens to join hands with the government to achieve a lasting peace.
He added that the church is an instrument of peace and loved that the nation live in peace.
He further said that the insecurity in the country had affected the church as well, to the extent that churches can no longer operate in some parts of the country.
The Anglican Bishop of Gboko, therefore, prayed to God to help President Bola Tinubu to enable Hitler to take good care of Nigerians. (NAN).