Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, has criticised the implementation of poverty alleviation programmes in Nigeria, alleging that initiatives meant to improve the lives of ordinary citizens often end up enriching a privileged few.
Speaking during a tree-planting exercise organised by the Bakhita Initiative–JDPC Sokoto at St. Kelvin Catholic Church, Gidan Dare, the cleric said many government interventions fail to benefit the people they were created to serve.
“In Nigeria, anything that is put on the ground to help ordinary people becomes food for the big people,” Bishop Kukah said.
Addressing the impact of climate change and desertification, Kukah lamented that despite years of government promises and interventions, northern Nigeria continues to face worsening environmental challenges.
He cited the Great Green Wall initiative as an example of a programme that has produced little visible impact despite huge public investments.
“Then we were told that effort was being made to stop desertification. They talked about the Great Green Wall. But up till today, we have never seen the green neither do we see the wall. We didn’t even see a blue or black wall. All we know is that we don’t have the wall, but the money has gone to where most monies in Nigeria normally will go to,” Bishop Kukah lamented.
The bishop also blamed the country’s development challenges on the lack of continuity in governance, saying successive administrations frequently abandon projects and policies initiated by their predecessors.
According to him, rather than completing ongoing programmes for the benefit of Nigerians, new leaders often discard existing initiatives simply because they were introduced by previous governments.
“Rather than continuing and ensure completion, successive leaders in Nigeria sees projects, policies and programmes from past leaders as not their own and should therefore be discarded. And some times, leaders discontinue certain projects, when they realized that huge monies paid for them have gone into the thin air with nothing to show for it.”
Kukah commended the Bakhita Initiative–JDPC Sokoto for commemorating World Environment Day through tree-planting exercises at St. Kelvin Catholic Church, Gidan Dare, and St. Patrick Catholic Church, Raymond Village, both in Sokoto State.
He explained that the programme aligns with the directive of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, which mandates all dioceses to observe World Environment Day annually as part of the Church’s commitment to protecting God’s creation.
The event, themed _”A Tree Today, Shade For Tomorrow: The Bakhita Initiative–JDPC Sokoto Takes Action for a Greener Future,”_ highlighted the Church’s commitment to environmental stewardship while encouraging individuals and communities to play active roles in restoring the environment.
Organisers urged Nigerians to look beyond merely planting trees and embrace a broader commitment to environmental responsibility, collective action and the protection of green spaces to combat the growing effects of climate change and deforestation.