The Anglican Church in Lagos has warned that the
security challenges in the country may be
compounded if the strike by university lecturers
persists.
The Bishop of Diocese of Lagos West, the Rt. Revd.
James Odedeji, said this on Thursday while
addressing a one-day synod of the church at
Archbishop Vinning Memorial Church Cathedral in
Ikeja, Lagos.
The Bishop said there could be an explosion of
sophisticated crimes as the students could become
idle hands hired or enlisted by criminals for nefarious
activities that could worsen the country’s security
challenges.
He wondered what had happened to the soul of the
country with frequent attacks of innocent people by
the Boko Haram sect in the North, the rising wave of
kidnap and rape.
While calling for a stiffer punishment for those
involved in the crimes, Odedeji called on the
politicians to be faithful to the mandates they
obtained from the electorate.
He said, “It is only in a country like this that teachers in our universities will embark on strike for as long as three months without a solution to the problem which led to the face-off.”
The bishop berated politicians who had turned
electioneering to permanent vocation, rather than
service to the people who elected them.
“A lot of events are now being revealed to convince
Nigerians that our elected office holders have
abandoned us to struggle for positions in far away
2015,” he said.
Adedeji called on the Peoples Democratic Party that
controls the Federal Government to shun undue
bickering and face the task of developing the nation.
On the Judiciary, Odedeji, who was addressing the
first synod after he was enthroned in April, said the
third arm of government had failed to play its part as
the last hope of the common man.
He hinged this on his observation that “the penalty
for the big thief is light punishment, while the one for a pick-pocket is life punishment often times,
depending on how the prosecutor is treated by the
people concerned.”
