The Reunion of Episcopal Conference of West Africa, RECOWA, tagged “Fratelli Tutti: Path to Build Brotherhood and Sustainable Peace in West Africa.” hosted by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, has commenced in Abuja with over 150 Bishops from 16 countries in the West African Region in attendance.

 

The Episcopal Conference on Peace is an opportunity for participants to brain storm on issues affecting peace and unity in the region and seek ways of fostering sustainable peace and unity in the Sub-region.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, heralding the week-long Conference, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said, the Federal government of Nigeria, is aware that there will be no lasting peace without partnering the church to end insurgency in the country.

 

He noted that government appreciates the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria which has built a reputation of speaking truth to power and urged them to also speak truth to the growing number of violent non State actors propagating ideas that often lead to destruction of life and property.

The Vice President, said, the founding fathers of ECOWAS had envisioned a region with seamless economic flows but terrorism, violence, banditry and conflict affecting man have prevented the realisation of the dream noting that since the establishment of ECOWAS, there has been appreciative improvement on communication between member countries but social conflicts around the borders have not allowed them have the type of close knit interaction they desire.

 

According to the vice President, aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic led to weakend economies, escalated unemployment and deepened poverty and as such, parochial prejudices are heightened as there are cases of mistrust and the fabric of cohesion in society becomes frayed as people retreat into religious and ethnic gaps thereby breeding distrust and disaffection among brothers.

In a welcome address, the President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Most Rev. Lucius Ugorji, said, we must guard against the culture of walls or culture of indiference especially given the worrisome situation of insecurity engulfing many countries in the West African Sub-region.

 

He said Frateli Tuti, reawakens us to realise how closely inter-connected we are as members of the human family and demonstrating that we cannot face the world and its problems in isolation and as such, global problems demand global response and action in the spirit of co-responsibility, cooperation and collaboration.

The Archbishop opined that myriads of problems bedevilling many countries today, such as poor govermance, human rights abuse, poverty, unemployment, ethnocentrism, terrorism and organised crimes, human trafficking, organ trafficking, illegal arms trafficking, intermational debt burden, drug abuse, migration and their likes, threaten peace and impede development in different countries.

 

The President of Reunion of the Episcopal Conferences of West Africa, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, on his part, said they are gathered in Abuja for a week to pray, to reflect and to take stock of their activities adding that the theme of the plenary, inspired by the encyclical letter of Pope Francis, invites citizens to fraternal relationships, rethinking, finding or rebuilding oneness and urged leaders to see governance as service for all.

 

He lamented that know that in our region of , political governance in West Africa is oftentimes not about service based on charity, justice, truth and transparency as we face issues of youth unemployment, religious and ethnic crises, climate change, land grabbing; diseases even more deadly than the Covid-19 pandemic, money spent on arms instead of using it to remedy the crippling effect of hunger and to foster development; terrorist attacks, kidnappers’ menace, corruption, among others.

He however, noted that the region has a lot to offer the world, from the spiritual, economic, cultural, agroecological and biodiversity.

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