Rt. Rev. Christian Onyia, Bishop of Anglican Diocese of Nike in Enugu State, has identified five major solutions to kidnapping and banditry in the country.
Onyia made this known on Saturday while reading his Bishop’s Charge at the Third Session of the Fifth Synod of the Diocese held at St. Peters Anglican Church, Thinkers Corner, Enugu.
The synod was themed: “Church: Mission through Social Action”.
According to him, we need to deal with the fundamental issues that lead people into violence and violent crimes such as kidnapping and banditry.
“Inequity, injustice, poverty, lack of education and lack of opportunities for employment are major drivers of insecurity in the country.
“If these problems are addressed, the recruitment of young people by groups of bandits will be limited,” he said.
The bishop said that the continuous and unabated daily reports of banditry and kidnapping within communities and states had continued to portray the country as unsafe.
The cleric noted that the recent kidnapping of school children in their tens and hundreds had become a threat to education and safety.
Onyia said that with the current spate of kidnapping and banditry it “seems the Federal and state governments are not doing enough to tackle them”.
The cleric, however, said that with the church social action, the church was expected to do more to reduce poverty and lack within the community.
He said that preaching the word and seeing to the spiritual needs of people remains vital; but more important was the need for the Church to meet physical and social needs of the people.
“This was exemplified by Jesus Christ Himself, where he not only preaches the gospel; but provided healing to discomforting situations and feeding to multitude that came from far and near to listen to Him.
“Today, likewise the Church must toe the line of Jesus Christ and the early missionaries by providing basic necessities and social amenities to communities where it is domiciled.
“The gospel will remain of little impact on the people, if it does not address the social and developmental needs of the community and people where it is situated,” he said.
The bishop also encouraged Christians and good spirited people to vie for and take up elective leadership positions in order to correct the anomalies in the country.
According to him, for every position one holds it is a privilege and one is expected to transform the community, state and nation for the better.
