It’s cheaper to remain together as a nation

The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, has said the cost of staying together as a country is cheaper than dividing Nigeria.

Kukah spoke virtually at the 2021 edition of The Platform, an annual conference organised by Pastor Poju Oyemade of the Covenant Christian Centre, Lagos, on the theme: “Is Devolution of Powers the Solution to Nigeria’s Problems?”

He blamed President Muhammadu Buhari for making people feel alienated from governance through inequality in power distribution at the highest levels.

He said, “The challenge now is how we can connect back because nobody would have expected to hear all the things we are hearing now. Now, everybody wants to go home.

“Yes, it may be right for everybody to want to go. It may be right for people to want to feel so dissatisfied that they want an end to what we have today. But the cost of staying together is far cheaper than the cost of everybody going his way.

“The most important thing here is that the government must give us a reason, ‘the body language’ we need to inspire ourselves that this country is worth the psychological, spiritual and the cultural engagements.

While reacting to the meeting between the president and officials of the United States on security, Kukah said Buhari should have spoken with his American counterpart, Joe Biden last week and not US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken.“However, half bread is better than nothing,” the cleric said.

He added that the meeting was a sign that Nigeria was going somewhere.

President Buhari had in a virtual meeting on Tuesday asked Blinken for the support of the Biden administration to tackle the security menace in Nigeria.