In Nigeria, Sinners Make Laws – Bishop Kukah

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The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah, has spoken out against the Academic Staff Union of Universities, or ASUU, which is now on strike.

In an interview with Channels Television, the Convener of the National Peace Committee declared that as long as politicians make the rules, the country will not progress. Kukah said;

“The problem with Nigeria’s situation is that the sinners are the ones trying to make the law. These are the consequences of where we find ourselves now.

“I speak to the fact that as long as the universities are the way they are, as long as we do not have privileged intellect and the diagnostic tools required to refine processes, as long as we are hoping that politicians are the ones to set their own rules, as long as we expect that almost all of these are politics, there would not be an improvement in the country.

“In my view, had it been we have a country that is working, a country that takes research seriously, it is the business of political scientists to equip the people in power with the required tools for analysis, to the options that are available to ensure things go the way they should go.

“But unfortunately, if you have a situation where the universities are not funded, the country itself behaves as if it wants to close the universities, what else do you expect?

“Unless and until this government and other government in Nigeria takes academic exercise very seriously, we can not expect the person who is sick to be the one to provide the medicine for his cure.”

Kukah also acknowledged that the amendment in the electoral law would instil greater confidence in Nigeria’s democracy.

He added;

“Gradually, as the quality of people’s lives is increasing, people can become a little bit relaxed but for now, politics in Africa and Nigeria seems to be a bit tense because of the nature of the sharing of the political benefits.

“If people in power continue to practise nepotism when people feel that they have voted and the people who are benefiting are those who have just come out of the comfort of their rooms, they are bound to feel frustrated. These are ingredients for violence in Nigerian politics.”