A Nigerian Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Angelo Chidi Unegbu has said that Nigerians will continue to suffer as long as they believe that the socio-economic problems in the country are spiritual in nature.
“Nigeria’s highest-earning YouTuber isn’t a social activist, an artist, a teacher, a craftsman, or someone who teaches people how to be successful, but rather someone who tells them that what God cannot do does not exist. As long as we believe that our socioeconomic problems are spiritual in nature, those responsible for our suffering will continue to laugh at us,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Friday.
He also pointed out that Nigeria is a deeply religious country yet it’s still grappling with widespread economic hardship, poor governance, insecurity, underdevelopment, corruption and s3xual immorality.
According to the priest, Nigerians lack attributes of a religious people, adding that they are selfish, dislike teamwork and detest corruption only when it’s not beneficial to them.
“The purpose of religion in general is to protect the right to life and human dignity; to promote truth-telling, mutual respect, sěxual morality (in most religions), peace, development, and social cohesion; to combat greed, envy, slander, and theft; and to give meaning and purpose to life and existence. Nïgeria today is the second most prayerful country on earth after Afghanistan, yet it lacks almost all of the above,” he wrote.
“How can a people be prayerful but lack all the attributes of a religious people? We are too selfish. We seek shortcuts everywhere. We only detest c0rruption when we do not benefit from it. We hăte due process. We don’t want to hear of teamwork, yet we want to be successful. The sooner we stop f0oling ourselves, the better for us.”
