Give Roles To Religious Leaders, Royal Fathers In The Constitution – Archbishop Arhawarien

By Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe, Esq

A member of Delta State Pilgrims and Welfare Board, Archbishop Jonathan Arhawarien, has again emphasised the need to involve church leaders and traditional rulers in governance in Nigeria.

Arhawarien, said countries where kings and church leaders were given roles in the constitution tend to make more progress than countries where the three arms of government; Executive, Legislature and Judiciary, operate, saying that kings and religious leaders have the moral capacity to checkmate the excesses of some politicians whose objective is to merely play politics and make financial gains at the detriment of the people.

The Archbishop gave this clarification at the Dead Sea Auditorium, Jordan during a special combined service for Delta State pilgrims including the 77 pilgrims that arrived the holy city of Jordan on Tuesday.

Arhawarien noted that the abysmal level of development in several States in Nigeria, and at the federal level is traced to lack of moral conscience and greed by those who ought to use the resources of government to better the living condition of the people.

He said Jordan is ruled by a King and the level of development and sanity within the country is worthy of emulation, adding that the combination of politicians, royal fathers and religious leader in governance, will end bad governance in Nigeria.

ALSO READ: BREAKING: Emir Of Kontagora Dies At 84

Archbishop Arjawarien, urged the constitution amendment committee to incorporate duties and responsibilities of religious leaders and royal fathers in the nation’s constitution.

“I have said it before and I will say it again, that until constitutional roles are given to royal fathers and religious leaders, we are likely not to make significant progress, despite the huge financial resources at our disposal as a major crude oil exporter in the world.

“Few politicians have good conscience while majority of them are greedy, always working for their personal interests, and the underdevelopment caused so far can be seen in our poor road networks, paying of lip service to the educational and health sectors, insecurity, poverty, congested labour market and so on and so forth.

“We are in Jordan and you can see the level of development in a country that depends largely on tourism and agriculture, without oil. The final authority here is a king, working with the Parliament and council of religious leaders, and they jointly run the affairs of this country.

“It is my considered opinion that we can adopt this strategy in Nigeria, by giving constitutional roles to royal fathers and religious leaders.

“The constitution amendment committee should do the needful, and once this is done, Nigeria will be better for it,” Archbishop Arhawarien said.