On Monday, Nigerians joined their counterparts worldwide to herald 2024, made supplications to halt hunger in the land, and made resolutions.

The people who thronged worship centres in Lagos for the Passover night service spared no time in thanking God for seeing another year.

They rendered fervent prayers for God to end the challenges that had subjected many to a state of lack in the country in 2023.

In Lagos, street carnivals were some of the festivities in some places, while in some areas, they were banned for security reasons.

At the SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church Tedi, Ojo, Lagos, the faithful took turns interceding for an end to hardship and hunger in the country.

Similarly, at the Spoken Word Ministry, Ojo Barracks, written prayer petitions tendered by the faithful centred on ending hunger in the land and individual progress.

In his sermon during the crossover Mass at the church, a visiting priest, Jude Opara, said it was time to take stock of how 2023 was lived and make projections for 2024.

Mr Opara charged people to always pray for the peace and development of the country and urged leaders to empathise with the people by implementing people-oriented projects and programmes.

According to him, the church is doing its part in society to foster cohesion among the people.

“But with the economic crunch in the land as experienced in the outgone year, people are not happy and may be prone to vices to vent their despair, thereby making nonsense of the teachings of the church,” he said.

At the Spoken Word Ministry, the pastor in charge, Chris Nmezi, said supplication for a better Nigerian society and individual growth were better ways to begin the year.

Mr Nmezi tasked the congregation to eschew unwholesome attitudes that alienated them from God in 2023 to enable them to receive blessings from God.

He said that resolutions made by people for a better lifestyle needed God’s grace to be sustained.

The pastor asked the worshippers to submit their written resolutions, prayed, and burned them for the requests to ascend to heaven.

Mercy Amosu, a churchwarden, said her 2024 resolution was to stop doing things that would provoke her husband, which had been the cause of their frequent quarrels.

(NAN)