By George Best Okoroh
The Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Okigwe South, Rt. Rev. David Onuoha has come down hard on the Federal Government.
He said that it has put Nigerians through all kinds of sufferings, and worsens the sad situation everyday by imposing more taxes and hiking tariffs. “The Federal Government is drawing blood from anaemic patients”, he submitted.
Particularly, Onuoha decried the recent hike in the pump price of petroleum products and electricity tariff.
Delivering his Presidential Address/Charge with the theme ” The Reason for the calling”: at the Third Session of the Ninth Synod of the Diocese held at St. Barnabas Church, Abueke, Ihitte Uboma Local Council of Imo State, the Bishop challenged the Federal Government to provide a five star hospital in every State of the country in the next three years. He said government should create the enabling environment for private sector participation in this imitative.
Bishop Onuoha who also is the Archbishop-Elect, Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, bemoaned the poor health facilities in the country which the Covid 19 pandemic has exposed. The Anglican Prelate who was pained at the excruciating hardship the Nigerian citizen were being subjected to by the Federal Government , urged government to convince itself whether it has not deviated from its primary responsibility of making life conducive and secured for the people.
Bishop Onuoha was further irked that the already impoverished Nigerians were also being taxed so much that it was like constantly drawing blood from an anemic patient which according to the Bishop was an act of wickedness.
He also lamented the lopsideness and imbalance in the allocation of oil wells and fields in the country, advocating the reversal of the policy of allocating these oil wells and fields to individuals. He advised that government should, instead, allocate these oil wells and fields to bodies and organizations like the NUC, NMA, NUT etc adding that by such policy the afore named bodies would have enough funds not only to improve their service conditions, but also reduce the incidents of industrial actions prevalent in the country.
The Bishop noted with nostalgia as a dangerous development, the demand for “matching ground”by the youths of some communities who make this demand from investors before they were allowed to settle on any parcel of land.
He also considered as bizarre the demand for corporate social responsibility on the Church, wondering which corporate social responsibility could be more than the schools and hospitals, hygiene, agriculture,and the fight against obnoxious practice the Church has been noted for since inception 145 years ago.
