Cleric Wants Government to Sustain Military Campaign Against Boko Haram

The Catholic Bishop of Enugu, Callistus Onaga, has urged the Federal Government to sustain the military campaign against the Boko Haram Islamic sect in the country.

Mr. Onaga stated this on Monday while delivering a paper at the inaugural lecture of the University of Wurzburg, Germany, to mark the inauguration of the first black and Nigerian professor in the Faculty of Theology.

According to him, the Nigerian government must be persistent and consistent in the operation for years.

"If there is any form of relaxation, they will resurface as is customary with always political motives couched in religious and moral principles," he said.

The bishop, in his paper entitled, "The Interplay of Religion and Politics and its Influence on socio-economic life-The Nigerian Case" said that religion and politics were inseparable.

"Politics and religion in Nigeria cannot be alienated from each other. This is as a result of the sectional nature of the Nigerian society.

"The only thing that can be done is to strike a healthy balance in the complementing and supplementing roles of these two aspects of human life," he said.

Mr. Onaga cautioned politicians against exploiting the youth in the fight against their opponents, saying they should enhance the youth's energetic and vibrant nature positively by encouraging creativity and rewarding achievements.

In his remarks, the Dean, Faculty of Theology in the university, Professor Franz Duenzl, stressed the need for all religions to enter into dialogue with one another in order to address different global challenges.

Mr. Duenzl said that the faculty was trying to address global challenges through the establishment of a professorial chair on challenges and dialogue of religion.

The first black regular professor in the faculty and a Nigerian, Professor Chibueze Udeani, 51, said it was the tradition of the faculty to establish a chair when a new professor was inaugurated.

"It is a kind of honour to prove that Nigeria has potentialities but I paid my own contributions," he said.

Mr. Udeani said that Nigeria should utilise the diversity in religions positively rather than use it to cause violence.

"Religion could be a binding force for development if we utilise it properly. We are all discontented about the situation in Nigeria but this can be used as a challenge to develop our potentialities," he said.

The seminar will feature paper presentations from different scholars including Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka.

NAN