UNN Pre-Convocation Lecture: Bishop Kukah Urges Confab Delegates

The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Kukah, on Thursday urged delegates to the National Conference to focus more on national issues than their personal problems.

Kukah made the call in Nsukka while delivering the pre-convocation lecture of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) entitled “After the Insurgency: Some Thoughts on National Cohesion”.

The cleric said that some of the delegates were busy discussing their personal issues rather than what they were sent to do.

“They should put national interest first if the outcome of the conference will achieve its objective of strengthening the nation. Continue...

“They should shun religious, political and tribal affiliations to achieve the objective of the conference,” he said.

On security in the country, Kukah urged Nigerians to be security conscious in order to detect suspected criminals in their midst.

The bishop said that if the immediate community where the Boko Haram insurgency started detected it early, the current security challenges plunging the nation could have been averted.

“Nigerians should be sensitive to their environment. We must stop this `it does not concern me’ attitude,” he said.

The bishop advised security operatives to use more of intelligence gathering in combating the Boko Haram insurgency.

“Every Nigerian must assist security operatives by providing them with useful information that will help in addressing the problem.

“Security agencies in turn should perform their duties in a way to earn trust from Nigerians so that citizens will feel free to provide information to them,“ he said.

Earlier, a former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani, who was chairman of the occasion, commended the Vice-Chancellor of UNN, Prof Bartho Okolo, for the level of transformation in the institution.

Nnamani expressed the hope that Okolo’s successor would sustain the standard he had set in the university.

In his remarks, Okolo said that keynote speakers at pre-convocation lectures were people who had distinguished themselves in their fields of endeavour.

Okolo said that as he was about to step aside, he was very proud of achievements recorded by his administration.

“UNN under my watch has regained lost ground as it can compete with other universities across the globe,” he said.