The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, has criticised the “Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill”, saying some of its content could “provide an avenue for the legalisation of many anti-human life and anti-family activities.”
The clerics, in a communiqué issued at the end of the CBCN’s first plenary session for 2018 in Abuja, also condemned the distribution of condoms and other contraceptive pills in schools.
“Whereas we acknowledge some legitimate rights due to women and the need to promote them, we, nevertheless, condemn the provisions of the “Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill,” which could provide an avenue for the legalisation of many anti-human life and anti-family activities. We therefore demand that such provisions be expunged from the Bill.
“Similarly, we condemn in unmistakable terms the indiscrete distribution of condoms and contraceptive pills in our schools, youth service orientation camps and private/government health institutions. No person, authority or institution has the right to terminate human life,” they said.
They also demanded the immediate action of government to ensure adequate and even distribution of voter registration materials across the country.
The clerics also lamented what they described as reports of inadequate voter registration materials experienced in specific parts of the country.
“Elections are around the corner. This process begins with the registration of voters, an exercise that has already started nationwide. Reports reaching us from all over the nation indicate that in many places facilities for registration are not available, thus depriving many people of the right to register for voting. It is equally reported that such difficulty in registration often target certain segments of the community.
“Furthermore, we hear of the registration of underaged persons. It is quite unfortunate that our young people allow themselves to be used as canon fodders in electoral malpractices.
Government and especially Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), should address these serious lapses with utmost urgency and without discrimination and bias,” the statement signed by the former CBCN President, Ignatius Kaigama, and his team of officers said.
The CBCN also called on government to promote entrepreneurship and other forms of employment, as a means of alleviating the hardship in the country.
