Speeches

3rd Lagos Archdiocesan Synod Of The Catholic Church

Nov 24, 2008 - I am greatly delighted to join you today on the occasion of the opening ceremony of this 3rd Synod of the Catholic Church in Lagos. I am aware that the 1st and 2nd Synods were held exactly around the same time in 1995 and 2000 respectively.

Let me begin by congratulating Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie, the Archbishop of Lagos, one of the most respectable voices of wisdom and reason in our national discourse, Ministers, Reverend Fathers, workers, the planning Committee members and the entire laity of the Catholic Community on this year’s 3rd Synod. I am sure that as we are holding the opening ceremony of this year’s Synod, it will be one of the memorable events of the Catholic Church.

I am told that the history of the Synods and Conferences in Catholic Church stemmed from the need for the Church to stand up to the challenges facing Christians in this country to bear clear and united witness; to provide leadership by example; and the need for deep renewal of their lives; to draw courage from the faith of the Saints that had gone; and to warn Catholics against the mistakes of the past and lead them to learn deeply from the life of the Lord and Saviour in order to carry forward the mission of God’s family in this Country.

Your wisdom in coming together at a time like this to reassess and review the operations of the Catholic Church in the Lagos Archdiocese is most commendable. This is true leadership in demonstration. It takes a visionary and focused leadership to reflect on the impact of its organisation on the immediate environment in line with the mandate of the Church, its vision and mission statements. Once again I congratulate the leadership of the Catholic Archdiocese in Lagos for putting together such a timely forum to address a timeless and universal subject.

With over 4million strong membership spread across all walks of life and many of them in positions of responsibilities, the Catholic Community cannot but be grateful to God for the successes of the past years. But setting a time apart to reassess your roles, activities and contributions to the society that play host to this mighty army of God, sends a strong message to other Christian organisations. After all, the Bible describes the Christians as a city that is set on a hill which cannot be hid and as a light/candle that cannot be put under a bushel. That therefore challenges us to play a leading role in effecting positive changes in our society, contribute to its development as we are expected to be models of good character.

I am particularly impressed by the choice of this year’s well-thought-out and timely theme: “The Church and Human Development”. To me, there is no better time than now to reawaken the Church and religious institutions in general to the sacred responsibility of investing in human capital development.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, just five days ago, I was at a similar forum where I spoke on Leadership and Human Capital Development. I crave your indulgence to share some of the thoughts with you. In my address at that conference, I emphasized the pivotal role of leaders and every one of us in shaping and reshaping development in our society. I opined that for Nigeria to be truly great, it must have at the helm of affairs people with leadership qualities and good character. I noted also that although our nation has people with leadership potentials who could stimulate its development, unfortunately most of those in leadership positions lack the right patriotic character. We all know that a leader without a good character is not worthy of being called a leader. I then challenged every Nigerian that the responsibility of ensuring that our country fulfils her obvious developmental potential is purely and wholly ours. We can all consciously begin to build and nurture the qualities that would propel the desired change that we all crave for by reinvigorating those institutions that spurn our core values.

The good news I wish to share with you today, is that as I look round this hall, I see those potentials in all of us. If those of us in this community determine to make a little positive change in our various little corners where we live, work, commute or recreate, our city and nation will witness unprecedented growth in all sectors. I also believe that, as a people, we will enhance the quality of life we live, if we could focus more on the positive aspects of our national life, and concentrate on how to make our own contribution to the development of our State. We can contribute our own quota to the development of the school system, health institutions, socio-economic sectors, environmental upgrading and preservation, and ethical conducts in public places among others.

Some of you may recall that at the beginning of the second quarter of this year I had a meeting with all the religious leaders in this State. On that occasion, I reiterated the fact that churches have always been one of the most potent vehicles for social transformation in the society and a powerful representative that helps to conserve and sustain those values like love, charity, sacrifice, self-denial, loyalty, civility, honesty, integrity and discipline that are indispensable for civilized human co-existence and national development. I also said that religious leaders and churches play significant roles in the society as opinion molders and role models who weigh tremendous influence on the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of millions of our people. I cannot but repeat those remarks here because of the important roles you will have to continue to play in teaching our people on their civic responsibilities and the fact that the government belongs to them.

As I said earlier, this year’s Synod is the best of time to to remind our citizens of their roles and duties as members of a larger community. We would need their cooperation and support to complement Government’s efforts at ensuring sanity, security and growth in the society. Our religious leaders are our partners in this huge job of governance because you are also saddled with the responsibility of admonishing the Church to be law-abiding and shun criminal tendencies that could pose a threat to the security of the State.

The Church also has a duty to preach against lawlessness, corruption, disorderliness, disobedience to constituted authority and leaders. You should consciously take on the huge responsibility to help promote the virtue of honesty and integrity among a critically significant mass of our people.

For instance, why would an otherwise responsible Christian man or woman flout traffic rules at the least sign of inconvenience? Why should people consider themselves good Christians yet they violate environmental laws by dumping refuse on the highways or in drainage or build on canals thereby defacing the environment or causing destructive flooding when rain falls? Or what do we say about the Christian police who still extort money from motorists, or the Christian Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of an organisation who indulges in evading taxes or wants to sleep with an innocent lady before employing her? Most disturbing are cases of people adjudged to be good Christians getting involved in child trafficking, kidnapping or money rituals.

Our duties and obligations therefore are to preach against these atrocities and exhort Christians and other citizens to demonstrate virtues such as love, tolerance, patience and perseverance that portray them as true followers of Christ. This piece from Fredrick B. Meyer that: “Whatever outward service or obedience we render to God or man, if love is withheld, the law is not fulfilled” is made more explicit by the Scripture that says that “Love is the fulfillment of the law.” The golden rule is merely a recast of the command to love. Christians are supposed to be good practitioners of the golden rule.

I am pleased to note that since the pre-colonial period, the Catholic Church has been very active in contributing to socio-political and moral developments of our nation and other parts of the world. For instance, Catholic Schools have been purveyors of sound moral teachings and discipline during the formative and impressionable years of our children and young people in secondary schools while the Church has been vocal in preserving family values. I believe that this year’s focus on human development is well-directed. To me human development begins from inside, our morality, our core values, respect for elders, fellow feeling, respect for constituted authorities, obedience to the laws of the land, honesty and integrity in our workplaces, becoming our brother’s keepers, discharging our social and moral obligations. These are all components of human development that will make our people patriotic citizens, empowered to contribute to the development of our nation. I believe that this occasion should be used to once again teach, reteach and reemphasize the importance of the purpose of living and our roles as citizens of this State/nation and of the world.

Distinguished people of God, I would also like all of you to use this period to continue in your prayers for our citizens and this administration so that the good Lord will continue to give us peace and harmony, guidance and for His continued love for our State so that the course of development will not be truncated and the mandate given to us by all of you will be used to deliver the blessings of good governance to all our people.

As a government that is about 600 days old, we have been very proactive in our efforts to re-create and build a habitable, livable and business-friendly model Africa Mega-City that will become a prosperous destination for business and pleasure. Roads, schools, drainages and bridges are being rehabilitated and new ones constructed; health facilities are being built and equipped; open spaces are being beautified; the operation greening the environment and stemming the effect of global warming is on course; and, skills acquisition and empowerment centres are being constructed, microfinance and mortgage schemes are being used to create jobs; fight poverty and provide a secured and rewarding future for all our people. All of these and more are being undertaken through the judicious utilization of the tax payers’ money and with the support of well-meaning individuals and corporate citizens.

We would still appeal to our citizens to know that it is their moral obligations and duties to pay their taxes so that more infrastructure and social amenities could be provided for the socio-economic development of our State and for the overall benefits of our citizens. Let me say again that, we will only be able to go as far as you will allow us. You have asked us to work for you, then you must give us the tools to do that work. When you pay your taxes regularly, you are empowering us to serve you better. That is the essence of the social contract that I have with all Lagosians.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I would also like to use this forum to urge our religious leaders to constantly educate our citizens on the need to cooperate with us and support all our bold initiatives. Our people should be made to understand that advanced nations being used as reference points for best practices went through this process as well. Therefore no matter the little and temporary discomfort some of our programmes and projects may cause them, we definitely mean well. Lagos must also become the reference point for great things. We need the support of every one of us to succeed in all that we are doing.

Let me assure you that this administration would be willing as usual to continue to give necessary support and encouragement to our churches as they continue to play their key roles in the development of the social, moral and collective psyche of our people.

As I conclude this address, I heartily congratulate Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, the Archbishop of Lagos and the ministers, workers and all those who have laboured day and night to ensure the success of this year’s Synod.

It is my firm belief that by the end of this year’s Synod, each of us would have been able to develop the great potentials God has given us to contribute to our own progress and the development of our State.

I very much wish you successful deliberations and celebration this year.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN)
Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria