Vatican Pledges Support for Nigeria’s Anti-corruption Fight

The Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria Embassy of Holy See Vatican, Archbishop Antonio Fillpazzi, has pledged on behalf of The Vatican to support he Anti-corruption crusade and development of the education sector in Nigeria.

Fillpazi who is the Pope’s direc representative to Nigeria made the pledge when he paid a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama in Abuja, Nigeria.

Fillpazi said “In the past and in the present, the Catholic has been part of development in education and social economic development and we wish to continue. There is no intention to withdraw in this commitment because it is part of our faith and our religion.

“As it is indicated by the president and the diplomatic community I think that the Catholic Church can do a lot especially in addressing these problems which sometimes come from lack of education and information.

“The church will be preaching the gospel and also do orientation to the society, to be an example and solution to the problem of corruption.

“Pope Francis is interested in what corruption is and how to address the challenge,” Archbishop Antonio Fillpazzi explained.

On the issue of the migrants crisis following mass exodus from parts of Africa, Onyeama said “We appreciate the good work that the Vatican is carrying out in various fields in Nigeria especially in education and social economic and religious, so we look very much forward for you to continue.

“Though we should not rely on Vatican to solve our challenge but we certainly look forward to increasing cooperation from the Vatican,” Mr. Onyeama stated.

Mr. Onyeama said that though Nigeria had a lot of challenges in security, economy and good governance, the present administration was doing what it could to address them.

“We are faced with a number of challenges in the country, the first one is security, which we are facing in the northeast and south-south and one or two other areas in the country.”

“It is a major challenge for us and has led to humanitarian catastrophy, with the displace of over two million persons. We have received a lot of support from the international community for those challenges, but the government has also invested enormous resources in addressing the challenges.

“However, we are extremely grateful for the support we are receiving from the Vatican to address the huge humanitarian crisis,,” he said.