Nigeria Is Under Economic, Security Siege, Says Anglican Primate

The primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Archbishop Henry Ndukuba has said that the economic and security challenges that Nigeria is going through as a nation, has shown that the country is under economic and security siege.

Ndukuba who made this known yesterday in Abuja at a press conference organised in respect to the commencement of the Diocese of Abuja Second Session of 12th Synod, schedule to start on Thursday, May 9, 2024, lamented that there is massive corruption that is going on in Nigeria.

According to the Primate, the kind of corruption and looting of the nation’s treasury and also the looting of Nigeria’s natural resources are evidence that the country is under siege.

“Nigeria is a greatly blessed nation, but what we are experiencing, is like we are under siege. Because, it is a common thing among us that some of us may not even know where the next meal will come.

“Nigeria is like a nation that is under siege, security wise, we are dehumanised. When you look around and see the attacks in our villages and communities, especially by different groups and some of this groups may not have bases in Nigeria.

“They may be neighbouring countries or people from others countries coming to vandalise our people. But, apart from that, there are also some elements within us, who are aiding and abetting. Therefore, the situation in which we live is like a siege, where you cannot travel freely and where you cannot be assured of what will happen,” he said.

He further said that there have been media reports concerning the sufferings that Nigerians are going through, saying that it is not strange to hear in Nigeria that a woman sold one of her children to feed the family or some other things that are so horrible, that it is dehumanising.

Ndukuba said that one of the ways to humiliate or dehumanise a city or a nation is through siege, saying that apart from being under economic siege, Nigeria is also under spiritual siege.

“In some cases, you will find out that is merchandising and weaponising of religion and the regions identities. Because of this merchandising and weaponising of religion, there is a spiritual siege, in which religion is used to explore the people to divide the communities, to create problems.

“We are also in a sociopolitical siege, in a situation where there is no rule of law, no social obligations and accountability by leadership. We see that things have gotten out of hands, like Chinua Achebe, would say, ‘Things fall Apart’ and the centre can no longer hold.

“Neither the leadership of the people or the people themselves would be able to tell where they are going. In such, we have seen that many people have given up their faith, and some have given up hope.

“The rate of suicides we are having in Nigeria and problems and challenges that are so prevalent amongst us, shows that there is need for divine intervention. We need God’s divine intervention,” he said.