Worried by the spate of suicide among Nigerians, The Nigerian Association of Christian Studies, has called on government at all levels to drastically transform the economy by addressing the structural imbalance and improve on institutional framework so to encourage a robust economy.
The association, which made the appeal in a communiqué issued at the end of the 2017 Annual Conference of the association held at Joseph Ayo Babalola University, JABU, Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun state, also condemned the nation overdependence on crude oil as the primary source of revenue and foreign exchange to the detriment of agriculture and other mineral resources.
The National President of the Association, Venerable (Dr) Olusola Igbari, while briefing newsmen on the theme of the conference tagged, “The Church’s Responses to Economic Challenges: Then and Now”, in Abeokuta, Ogun State said the communiqué also agreed that the socio economic problem in Nigeria is heavily rooted in the ethical misconduct as well as the unrighteousness of religious and political leaders.
“The issue of national proportions such as economic recession or challenges requires much more collaboration, intensification of efforts and pulling together of resources, by all stakeholders.”
Speaking on the roles of the church, the communiqué said they should set a good example in leadership and continue to play functional roles in challenging lousy governance, and critical economic situations.
“The Church’s concern must be the need to create gainful employment and create economic investment possibilities and opportunities for youths.
“The Church needs to serve a prophetic role for the ethical and moral re-armament of the people, and the nation, and always declaring the will of God.”
The Association opined that the reason for many economic challenges facing the country may also be adduced to the decline in commercial activities, negative growth in GDP, increase in prices of commodities, low purchasing power, mass unemployment and an increase in poverty level.
Apart from these reasons, “the factors of bad leadership, corruption, wastages, colonialism, extractive financial structures and laziness are major factors also”.
It then called for collaborative measures between the government and the governed by pulling together all resources to fight the economic challenges facing the country.
