Nwodo urges Catholic Church in Nigeria to reinvent Education to revive the economy
From Maurice Okafor, Enugu.
An elder statesman and immediate past President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo(worldwide). Chief Nnia Nwodo, yesterday lampooned the Nigerian government over derailing the state of the nation’s economy and worsening insecurity in different parts of the country. As an alternative. He charged the Catholic Church in Nigeria to embark on a rescue mission in restoring our value system and revamp the economy by investing in Science education and Agriculture.
Chief Nwodo made the passionate appeal at the ongoing Catholics Bishops Conference of Nigeria 2nd plenary holding in Enugu.
The former Ohanaeze Ndigbo President General, who was the chairman of today’s event, lamented that the conference is holding at a time of heightening insecurity challenges in the country, prayed that the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria by the virtue of the interaction will come up with solutions that will in resolving some of the socio-political and economic challenges confronting the nation.
Going down memory lane, Chief Nwodo lamented that Nigeria has never been worse off before than its current predicaments. He allayed fears that the nation is suddenly drafting into a failed state with a high poverty rate comparably worse than India.
He recalled that Nigeria was once rated as the highest grower of cassava in the world, stating cassava with its various products can transform Nigeria into a rich nation.
He said Nigeria is also considered as the 6th highest production of crude oil globally but at the moment the federal government spends billions in importing refined petroleum products.
He decried the federal government attitude and negligence to the development of the nation’s natural resources and commended that reverting to the federating units and system of governance remains the best approach to salvaging Nigeria socio-economically.
Criticising the government ineptitude, Nwodo tasked the Catholic Church in Nigeria to take the challenge by reinventing the educational system in the country.
He decried the dearth of Science education in the country, at a time when technology and scientific innovations rule the world.
According to him, while he was a student at the College of Immaculate Conception(CIC) Enugu in the sixties, both Biology, Chemistry and Physics laboratories were very well equipped and aided Science students in their practicals. But at the present age, students were compelled to embrace alternatives to practicals due to the failure of the government to do the needful.
He equally tasked the Catholic church to make head way in developing Agriculture and cultivating farm lands,emphasising that the study of agricultural science should be compulsorily restored in the school system.
However, Nwodo extolled the efforts of the Catholic Bishop of Enugu, Most Revd Callistus Onaga is already putting in place towards agricultural development. He disclosed that Bishop Onsga cultivated massive farmland in the Udi local government of Enugu state.
