Catholic bishops pledge to help President Buhari fight corruption

The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) says it will work with President Muhammadu Buhari to build a united, morally upright and corrupt-free Nigeria. The CBCN President, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama made the pledge on Monday night when he led a delegation on a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Speaking with State House Correspondents after the closed door discussion, Kaigama who is also the Catholic Archbishop of Jos, said the group presented a publication on corruption to the president. ``This is a book I just presented to Mr President. Since 1960 the Nigerian Catholic Bishops have been talking against corruption and telling people to avoid it. ``It is a cancer, it is dangerous and it is a social disease. So we have compiled this to assure Mr President that we are 100 per cent with him in the fight against corruption. ``And with corruption we cannot progress, with corruption everything goes wrong, immorality takes over, retrogression instead of progression takes place. ``So, corruption is a huge obstacle that has to be dismantled,’’ he said. The Bishop said the meeting also provided the opportunity for the Catholic bishops to appreciate President Buhari's genuineness and sincerity to positively change the country. According to him, the Bishop found president Buhari a sincere man with great sense of dedication who wants the best for this nation. ``We could hear our President speak with passion about this country. ``How to make this country better, how to mobilise every Nigerian to selflessly put in our best and we assured Mr President of our prayers, our moral support and our desire to cooperate. We have every hope. ``We only need to be a little more patient. ``The President was able to explain to us the difficulties, the challenges, the bottlenecks that are there and we understood fully. ``So, we equally call on Nigerians to give the President a chance. He is sincere, he is dedicated, he is committed and together, we shall make wonderful progress,’’ he said. The Catholic Bishops also highlighted other areas of collaboration with the government to include education, health care delivery and social and spiritual rejuvenation of the society. The archbishop also expressed the readiness of the CBCN to be actively engaged in the resettlement and rehabilitation of the Internally Displaced Persons in the country. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Vice-President Yemi Osinbanjo and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir Lawal attended the meeting. (NAN)