Fiery Catholic cleric, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, has called on religious leaders across the country to hold strong influence on their congregations and communities in the drive to arrest gender-based violence (GBV) in Nigeria.
Bishop Kukah made the call, Thursday in Abuja, during the unveiling of the book, ‘Ethical and Religious Policy Framework for Addressing GBV’ through religious leaders and institutions in Nigeria, published by his foundation, The Kukah Centre.
According to him, The Kukah Centre’s interest is to help religious leaders to become more sensitive and to deploy their moral authorities to support the campaign against gender-based violence across the country.
“Our target is largely the religious leaders but also it is important that the women and men understand that these are issues that affect our common humanity as traditional and cultural beliefs are deployed.
“There are many things in our culture that people use to humiliate women on the ground that this is Africa. Men who are about to do bad things fall back on culture.
“The purpose of the book is to attack that from the foundation and create awareness,” the cleric said while urging men and women across board to promote the dignity of women because it is fundamental to how we survive in the society.
He said it is our inability to act according to the mind of God that makes politics, economic injustice, suffering and poverty so toxic.
He expressed concern that “our religious convictions are sometimes locked up behind as Ministers, Governors, Men of God when we leave the house.”
He said Nigeria has become a place where horrible things are done, hoping, however that “this kind of conversations can be scaled up from the documents we produce and ensure that they are circulated in the Mosques and Churches.
“There are no separate quotas for women and men but if we have a moral foundation, the laws become easy and in reality the laws of God are in our hearts and not externalised.
“We shouldn’t allow external agencies to be doing our work for us because it is not just about sermons and preaching but also ensuring that our justice systems have a moral foundation and how we treat one another.”
The KukahCentre is a Nigeria-based non-profit, non-governmental and public policy organisation that offers alternative approaches to the challenges of leadership and the impact of conflict on national development.
Kukah to clerics: Influence churches, mosques’ worshippers against gender violence
