Catholic Archbishop tasks new Ministers on diligence, patriotism and selflessness

The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos,  Most  Rev  Dr  Alfred  Adewale  Martins  has

admonished the newly sworn-in Ministers of the Federal Republic to serve the nation

with utmost diligence and deep sense of patriotism in their various Ministries in

other to help the President move the nation to greater heights.

In a press release made available to newsmen through the Acting Director of Social

Communications, Lagos Archdiocese, Rev Fr Anthony Godonu, Archbishop Martins,

while congratulating the new ministers on their appointments, reminded them that

they have a great responsibility ahead of them as the country was going through

very difficult times in all facets.

He challenged them to rise up to the demands of their offices by hitting the ground

running and being alive to the yearnings of all segments of Nigerians who have been

clamoring for a better lease of life irrespective of their religion, political party or

ethnic affiliations.

“There have been varying analysis and evaluation of the appointments but what is

beyond contention is that the challenges  before the new ministers  are enormous.

They are coming in or being re-appointed at a time when there is so much distress,

anger and dissatisfaction among the people. The expectations of Nigerians are high

since their desire for no more than the barest minimum of good living has been left

unfulfilled for far too long. So, we hope that the Ministers would hit the ground

running. Their two-day gathering or retreat should have helped them to identify the

various ways their ministries can impact meaningfully on the lives of the people. The

ruling Party has made a lot of promises and Nigerians hope that the Ministers would

work to ensure that the promises would not go the way of similar promises in the

past that were not satisfactorily discharged. It is only by making the lives of people

manifestly better that they would be able to justify their appointments to these

high offices.”

The Prelate also called on President Muhammadu Buhari and his Ministers to avail

themselves of  wise  counsel  from  all  well-meaning  Nigerians  irrespective  of  the

source of counsel. He advised the President to use his second term in office to make

amends for all  the  shortfalls  of  his  first  tenure,  namely:  security  of  lives  and

property, supply of  constant  and  stable  power  (electricity),  fixing  the  dwindling

economy  as  well  as  consolidating  on  the  construction  and  provision  of  social

infrastructure in country.

While praying God to imbue the President with wisdom and all the virtues needed for

his office, he implored him not to discountenance the growing agitations coming from

the  different  corners  of  this  country  calling  for  the  restoration  of  the  Federal

character of the country, often referred to as restructuring of the country.

The  Archbishop  noted  that  President  Muhammadu  Buhari,  as  the  father  of  the

nation,  should  be  prepared  to  make  every  sacrifice  needed  to  rebuild  and  make

Nigeria a peaceful nation, united and prosperous. We have for too long been the butt

of jokes and cynical remarks and we hope the tides would change very soon.