Ahead of the planned removal of fuel subsidy by the incoming administration, the Methodist Church in Nigeria has appealed to the federal government to prioritise the welfare of the suffering masses in the country before it finally takes steps halting the fuel subsidy in Nigeria.
This is just as the Methodist Church called on private bodies and corporate organisations to partner with the federal government towards investing heavily in agriculture so as to enable the country to provide sustainable employment for teeming unemployed youths.
These are part of the resolutions in the communique issued at the end of a four-day first Synod of the Yewa Diocese of the Methodist Church Nigeria in Ilaro, headquarters of Yewa South local government area of Ogun State on Monday.
In the communiqué signed by the trio of the Bishop of Yewa Diocese, Rt. Revd. Charles Adeniyi, the synod secretary, Very Revd. Sunday Oluwole Ajayi and the lap. president, Jon. David Kojeku, the church said the onus lied on it to pray for the country “to be a better place for all of us to live” and at the same time, owed it a civic duty “to speak the truth to the authorities and ourselves.
“As Christians, we need to be watchful and vigilant. Synod therefore appeals to all political office holders to rule with the fear of God”.
In the communiqué, the synod further demanded that the federal government should return more mission schools back to their original owners, stressing that since the return of missionary schools back to their original owners, not only has academic performances improved, but moral decadence has equally reduced.
“Their co-existence with government schools has brought the desired competition. Therefore, as further steps to excellence, the government should look into ways of returning more schools to religious bodies, they said.
The synod, however, urges that the government should rise up to its responsibilities of rehabilitating roads in the Yewa-Awori axis of the Ogun State Senatorial district.