Olusegun Ariyo
President Bola Tinubu has urged Nigerians at home and in the diaspora to use the country’s diversity for stability and rapid development.
This was contained in a statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Sunday. According to the statement, Tinubu spoke in Rome when he received members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria.
Urban Express News Online reports that the Catholic bishops were part of Tinubu’s delegation to attend Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration mass on Sunday.
“If we use our diversity not for adversity but for prosperity, the country’s hope is stability and progress,” Tinubu said.
The president also charged leaders at all levels to work for the betterment of the citizens, adding that it was historic to be the president of Nigeria when a new pope was inaugurated in Rome.
Speaking, the archbishop of Owerri and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, Lucius Ugorji, thanked Tinubu for facilitating their visits to the Vatican for the late Pope Francis’ burial and to witness the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV.
The archbishop stated that the development signalled a new era of a more robust relationship between the president and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
“You are always there for us. Now that you have come to the Vatican, whenever we have our conference in Nigeria, we will also invite you, and we look forward to interfacing with you just as you were able to do with the Holy Father,” he said.
The archbishop of Abuja, Ignatius Kaigama, the archbishop of Lagos, Alfred Martins, and the Catholic bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah, attended the meeting with the president.
