Kukah gave the advice in a keynote address at a centenary public lecture and awards ceremony by the Catholic Herald.
Catholic Herald is Nigeria’s oldest surviving newspaper and weekly publication of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos.
The event was held at the Mother of Perpetual Help Church, Victoria Island, Lagos State.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event had the theme: “The Nigerian State: Transcending Challenges, Attending True Nationhood”.
The event was to celebrate the centenary anniversary of the Herald, the oldest newspaper in Nigeria.
The cleric spoke on nation-building.
Kukah said that the quality of the civil society, to a large extent, determined the extent of change in a society.
The cleric and social crusader appealed to the leadership to be people-oriented in their policies and administration.
Kukah said that there was a need for governments to carry the citizens along in projects and programme implementation to meet the needs of the masses.
“Nigeria’s journey to nationhood should be of concern to the people and with an eye on the desired destination.
“Pray that God renews our strength to champion just causes.
“Nation-building is a long-distance race that needs patriotic zeal to sustain to stardom,” he said.
He called on Nigerians to be committed to nation-building.
NAN reports that the Catholic Herald was one of the platforms used by nationalists to push for Nigeria’s independence.
The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Adewale Martins, said at the event that the newspaper played a major role in the pre-independence era.
He said that the newspaper would, aside from its evangelism function, continue to stir public discourse to advance the society.
He called on the newspaper’s editorial board to do more to expand its scope of enlightenment.
