TheCable

Antonio Fillpazzi, the Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, has pledged the support of the Vatican to fight against corruption in the country.

Fillpazzi, who is the Pope’s direct representative to Nigeria, said this on Thursday when he visited Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs.

The representative said the Catholic church could do a lot to address Nigeria’s problems.

“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,” Fillpazzi said.

“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 the problem which sometimes comes 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.”

On his part, Onyeama said Nigeria look forward to an “increasing cooperation” with the Vatican.

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

“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,” the minister said.

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

“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 catastrophic, with the displacement 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.”