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President Goodluck Jonathan |
By: Yemi Akinsuyi
President Goodluck Jonathan has blamed Nigerians for crimes
in the country, saying the society has failed.
Jonathan stated this, yesterday, during the official opening
of the National Christian campaign on social transformation, titled: ‘Be the
change you want to see’.
The president said the society needed both moral and
spiritual transformation, stating : “The whole society has failed, that is one
reason we have incidents of cultism, armed robbery, murder, ritual killings,
drugs, sales of babies, kidnapping, sexual immorality, and other vices.”
The President blamed this moral decadence on parents, who
did not teach their children the right things to do, the church, where Bible
teachings have been turned upside down, and also on schools, where most teachers,
rather than teach their students, turned themselves to traders of all sorts.
“Indeed we have lost our moral values and principles. So
much has gone wrong in our family life, schools, churches and society in
general. We have lost the values of hard-work, respect for elders,
truthfulness, contentment, for Godliness with contentment is great gain,
humility, patience, compassion, fairness, love, justice, obedience, and all
other vices, are all lost. Our priorities are misplaced.
“It would appear we have the society we deserve. We,
therefore, need both moral and spiritual transformation. We need to return to
God. Study and obey the word of God, which is able to cleanse us,” he said.
The president, who was represented by the Minister of Lands,
Housing and Urban Development, Ms. Amma Pepple, insisted that there was a great
responsibility placed on the church to lead this return to values and morals
and to bring about the much needed transformation in the society, so that the
people can try to be like Jesus, who he described as “meek, never spoke angry
word, frequently in prayers and always doing good.”
In his remarks, Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku,
while thanking the organisers of the campaign, said it corroborated Mr.
President’s Transformation Agenda in the Christian way.
Maku noted that change could only come right from the heart
and that such change would take the country to the next level.
President, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor
Ayo Oritsejafor said change could only take place when an individual decided to
change for the better rather than expecting it from other people.
He said: “For this country to change for the better, I must
change. I should not expect the change to come from others first. It must begin
with me. That is why all the three books on social transformation given out
today must be studied very well by all, in order to effect the change we desire
in our country.”
The organiser of national Christian campaign on social
transformation, Reverend Williams Okoye said if Christians lived exemplary
lives, they would be able to influence others, thereby making the country the
best in the world.
Okoye, who said the three books on social transformation are
being distributed freely to all Nigerians, called for more collaboration from
all stakeholders to ensure positive change in Nigeria.
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