President of Nigeria’s Catholic Women Organisations (CWO) Dame Mary Ashibi-Gonsum, said in Lagos on Saturday that the Nigerian government should focus more on ending crises in the country.
She said that while President Muhammadu Buhari’s 61st Independence Anniversary speech was that of hope, she wished for a more definitive approach to end banditry.
“I was hoping for a more purposeful and definitive approach to the fight against banditry and insurgency.
“We expected President Buhari to announce a purposeful roadmap to end banditry in the country.
“Women and children are worse hit in all of these as the loss of husbands and fathers expose them to unsavoury conditions of squalor and agony,’’ she said.
She equally decried the increasing number of out-of-school children resulting from kidnapping of children for ransom.
Ashibi-Gonsum also expressed disappointment at the poor performance of students in competitive and external examinations like JAMB, the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination and others.
The CWO president blamed the woeful performance of students in the examinations on insecurity and tasked the Federal Government to explore security variants other than military operations to check the menace.
She said efforts should be made to stop the disruption of school calendar and to ensure that children stayed in school to learn.
Ashibi-Gonsum also challenged Nigerians to remain hopeful and to refrain from badmouthing the nation, but rather to pray for the leaders to remain focused in the management of the country.