The Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Reverend Henry Ndukuba, has urged Nigerians to be patient with President Bola Tinubu-led administration.

Mr Ndukuba who addressed journalists on Sunday in Abuja on hardship and insecurity in the country said that the problems in Nigeria would take 10 to 20 years to be fixed.

He said, “I want to appeal to Nigerians to be patient by giving this government more time to do what they said they will do. With the problem that we have, it’s not something that can be solved within a day, one month or one year. The magnitude of our problems will take us another 10 to 20 years for us to deal with them.’’

On insecurity, the cleric decried the constant attacks in some parts of the country and called on the government for urgent intervention to protect the lives of citizens.

He stated, “I call on the government and statutory security agencies to rise to their responsibilities of protecting the lives and property of the citizenry giving heed to the call for effective community policing.”

He equally appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress to shun the planned nationwide strike.

He said, “I want to appeal to the leadership of NLC to go into negotiation rather than going on strike. Let them go back to the roundtable. We are pleading with the government to do the needful by engaging with the leadership of the NLC to resolve the issues amicably. People are hungry, and a hungry man is an angry man. We can’t tell them not to express themselves.

“Nigerians are not asking for too much. They are asking for food, security, infrastructure such as roads, and a constant power supply for them to live and do their economic activities.’’

Mr Ndukuba emphasised the need for Nigerians to engage in subsistence farming by using the available land within their premises for farming.

This, according to him, will reduce hunger and suffering affecting the citizens.

He added, “Nigerians are hard-working and can labour to feed their families if encouraged. There is a need for us to encourage Nigerians to go back to farm on any available land around their houses to get basic food. The wealth of this country has been captured and hijacked by the few elites. In a situation where few are richer than the whole nation, the wealth is not properly distributed. It’s dangerous. We need to see what can be done to salvage this nation together.’’

The cleric urged Christians to pray for peace in the country, stressing that religion should be part of the solution to societal problems and not the cause of its problems.

He said, “We are trusting God that these challenges will be resolved in a not distant time.”

(NAN)