Onah made the call in Abuja on Wednesday at a thanksgiving service to mark the end of the tenure of the Executive Secretary of Caritas-Nigeria, Rev. Fr. Uchechukwu Obodoechina.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Carissas-Nigeria is an agency of the Catholic Church mandated to promote the welfare of the poor.
The cleric said that though times are hard in the country, it was the responsibility of citizens to rise and fix the country.
“Nigerians should know that Nigeria is in the hands of Nigerians, only Nigerians can solve the problem of Nigerians, and the worst thing we can do is to give up hope on Nigeria.
“It is a project that we must all get involved in; we should not let anybody to intimidate us or cower us to submission.
“We are all Nigerians, and collectively, we can salvage this country but that is if each one of us, and I challenge everyone, each one of us, starts taking seriously his assignment as a Nigerian.
“Let everyone asks himself or herself, what can I do to make things better for others rather than always blaming others?” he said.
The Bishop, however, tasked the government to rise to its responsibilities and make life better for the citizenry. He acknowledged that the government could not solve all the problems alone, hence the need for interventions like Caritas-Nigeria and other non-governmental interventions in the country.
Onah said that a situation where such interventions are doing much more than they should do is an indictment on the government. Obodoechina said that he was grateful to God, the church and all the members of staff and partners of Caritas-Nigeria for the opportunity to serve and the cooperation he enjoyed in his eight years in office.
He charged the government at all levels to step up and ensure that all Nigerians live a dignified life like citizens of other countries. He said that people from Germany, the United States of America, the UK, among other parts of the world have been coming assisting to ensure that people live in dignity in Nigeria.
“It is important for governments to sit up to its responsibilities; it has the duty and the mandate to protect life of citizens and their property.
“But if the government is not doing that, the church and other civil bodies will continue in their own little within the rank and file to impact lives of those who are in Nigeria,” he added.
