PM News Nigeria reports that The Most Rev. Josiah Ferson, Diocesan Bishop of the Kaduna Diocese of the Church of Nigeria, attributes drops in church attendance (30%) and giving (60%) to the violence of the current national security challenge:
The clergy man said that the security challenge had adversely affected the entire North-East region economically, socially and politically. Fearon flayed the incessant killings in some part of the Northern states, in spite of pleas from religious leaders, individuals and national and international organisations.
He urged the Federal Government to urgently assist the northern state governments to implement the recommendations of the Sheikh Ahmed Lemu Panel aimed at restoring peace. The Bishop said the panel had recommended that some form of financial assistance be given to all victims of the April general elections violence. “This would enable them start all over again, even if on a small scale, it would convince Nigerians that this government is interested in their well-being.”
Fearon decried the indiscriminate display of wealth amidst hunger and recklessness in the spending of money meant for development projects and cautioned that “all these happenings in the face of poverty must stop.”