In the spirit of this year’s Christmas season, the Most Reverend Gerald Mamman Musa, the bishop of the Katsina Catholic Diocese, has called on the federal government to develop micro, small, and medium-sized businesses through grants and soft loans, as well as to offer targeted assistance for farmers and rural workers.
Additionally, according to Channels TV, he warned the Tinubu-led administration not to impose taxes that lack a human and sympathetic face. Instead, he asked them to recover revenue lost due to illicit mining, oil theft, careless borrowing, and waste, as well as to reduce government excesses before tightening belts for the impoverished.
Bishop Musa stated that taxes shouldn’t be used as a penalty for poverty in his Christmas Message, “LET PEACE BE BORN AGAIN IN NIGERIA,” which he spoke at a press conference on Christmas Eve at the Katsina Catholic Church.
While people continue to demand jobs, food, and security, public funds are being covertly diverted into political machinery. Such leaders need to keep in mind that God was among the poor, not the strong, and that the whole spirit of Christmas is incompatible with a government that disregards the weak.
Given this, Christmas calls on us to remember the impoverished, including the farmers, market women, craftspeople, independent contractors, and small business owners who are the foundation of the Nigerian economy.
Insecurity, inflation, and the fallout from the elimination of fuel subsidies are still problems for these populations.
Therefore, the government must strengthen micro, small, and medium-sized businesses through grants and soft loans, avoid taxes that lack a human and compassionate face, recover revenue lost to illegal mining, oil theft, reckless borrowing, and waste, and reduce government excesses before tightening belts for the poor. Being impoverished should not be punished by taxes.
Moving from the ecclesiastical to the political arena, Most Reverend Musa disclosed that Christmas serves as a sobering reminder to people in positions of authority that dictators, not shepherds, use divide-and-rule tactics.
“Leadership is a sacred trust that must be upheld, not a chessboard that can be moved. In addition, it is concerning that certain people in our cherished country have become agents of evil,” he said.
“The behavior of many political actors who, amid increasing hardship, have already abandoned governance for early campaigns ahead of the 2027 elections is equally concerning,” the Bishop stated.
The preacher bemoaned the fact that while people continue to scream for jobs, food, and security, public funds are being covertly diverted into political machinery.
Kidnapping, banditry, assassination, and organized violence have become into lucrative endeavors for a select few at the expense of the many, according to Most Reverend Musa.
Let’s be clear: no one makes money off of blood without drawing criticism to themselves. “There is no peace for the wicked” (Isaiah 48:22), Scripture says emphatically to those who profit off the suffering of farmers, traders, travelers, and weaker citizens,” the preacher said.
This tragedy is made worse by the increasing number of foreign miners who have arrived as predators rather than partners, stealing our mineral wealth and starting wars that drive out our people.
This truth is aptly expressed by another African proverb: “When the visitor starts harvesting more than the host, something is wrong.”
“Nigeria must make sure that its resources, land, and future are not up for auction to those who exploit rather than uplift, and that its children are protected before its minerals.”
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