From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar
Methodist Church of Nigeria, Diocese of Calabar, has faulted the country’s security architecture, saying it has failed to tackle the menace of insecurity in the nation.
The church made this known in a communique issued at the end of its 48th annual synod held at the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Ikang, Bakassi Local Government Area.
The six-point communique signed by the Methodist Bishop of Calabar, Chimezuo Nwankpa, the Lay President, Miranda Dosunmu and the Chairman of the Communique Committee, Offisong Unoh said: “The present security architecture of the Federal Government has failed in all ramifications to tackle the menace of insecurity in the nation regardless of the humongous amount of money pumped into the sector.
“Cases of organised crimes, including banditry, terrorism, piracy, kidnapping, oil theft and bunkering, are now recorded on a weekly basis, if not daily.
“The armed forces, the police and the paramilitary seem to be at a cross road as they are also victims of these heinous crimes. The synod, therefore, called for total overhauling of the nation’s security architecture aimed at curbing the prevalent cancerous security menace. Both trained security and civilians should, as a matter of urgency, treat security matters as important.
“The synod further frowned at various forms of crisis and challenges confronting the nation, most of which are artificially created and human made and enjoined leaders to be principled in governance, embracing God for wisdom and knowledge,” the church said in the communique.
The synod reiterated the need for leaders, at all levels, and political office holders to rise to their responsibilities, which include among others availing the citizens the enjoyment of dividends of democracy through founding of certain basic infrastructures and social amenities.
It also commended President Bola Tinubu for introducing the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund to address some of the bottlenecks in project or infrastructure development raised above.
The synod hoped this approach will service the targeted major projects, which include major roads networks, such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highways, Sokoto-Badagry Expressway, Lagos-Kano and Eastern Rail Lines, Ports and Aviation facilities earmarked for modernisation.
It similarly commended the Cross River State Governor, Bassey Otu, and his team for the achievements recorded so far since the government came into being but insisted a lot still need to be done and drew the attention of the state government to the activities of kidnappers, cultists and pirates within the state which have brought untold hardship and psychological trauma to the citizens.
The synod expressed dismay over the mishap involving the Nollywood actors in Delta State and frowned at the incident but condoled with the families of the deceased and the state government.
The 48th annual synod was hosted by a rechristened Circuit, John Wesley (formerly known as Akpabuyo), Ikang, Bakassi Local Government Area, Cross River State, and was designed to remodel the Diocese of Calabar after the creation of the two new dioceses out of it within the same period.