Nigerian bishops denounce culture that violates human dignity

Published: 2008-02-20

LAGOS, Nigeria (CNS) -- The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria has decried a prevailing culture that violates human dignity. "The rights of every Nigerian as human beings are violated by some policies which are ill-conceived with little or no input from the people," the bishops said. "Even some good policies are poorly implemented." In a statement released after their general meeting Feb. 11-16 in Abuja, the bishops said, "The flawed federal and state elections of 2007 and the subsequent local government elections represent a brutal reminder that there is a culture of violation of human dignity in our country." They accused many Nigerian leaders of assuming that they were "omniscient and omnipotent" because they were heading a government office. The bishops also said they regretted that Nigerians had witnessed the many "manifestations of the erroneous presumption that power is knowledge and that to be in office is to monopolize wisdom."

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