2023: 2023: Anglican Church says porous borders are threat to credible election calls for strict border control
The Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, has urged the Federal Government to ensure strict border monitoring and control to prevent illegal migrants from interfering in the forthcoming general elections.
The church made the call in a communique at the end of the meeting of its Standing Committee.
The communique, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Saturday, was jointly signed by Most Rev. Ali Buba Lamido and Most Rev. Henry Ndukuba.
It said that the measure was necessary to avoid foreigners being erroneously captured as Nigerians diring the elections or the 2023 national census.
“If issues of the country’s borders are not checked, the forthcoming general elections and census may be affected and the consequences of this could be grave for National Security.
“Government should look into motivating and equipping
the law enforcement agencies for efficiency in the discharge of their responsibilities,” it said.
The communique added that government should purge security agencies of the enemies of the county that allegedly infiltrated them.
It also canvassed for the amendment of sections 214 and 215 of the Constitution to give more powers to states in the handling of security issues.
The church advised the federal government and ASUU to resolve their differences and reopen public universities.
It expressed concern about the state of the economy, including fast-depleting external reserves and double digit inflation, and called for measures to shore up the economy.
The church called for “urgent and decisive actions” to stem kidnappings and ritual killings in the country, and
make the country liveable.
It said that the ugly trend of vote buying and selling was ungodly and a cheap way to exploit the conscience of the poor.
The communique disagreed with the water sector reform Bill before the National Assembly, saying it should be stepped down.
The church, however, commended Federal Government and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the recent improvements in the electoral process and called for its sustenance.
It resolved not to compromise its position on the true doctrine of Christianity, especially on human sexuality.