Missionaries of Africa
BOX 19460 U. I. P. O, IBADAN, NIGERIA
Tel: +2347055069140/+2348131537051
NIGERIA SECTOR: JPIC REPORT

James Ngahy, M. Afr.,

JUSTICE AND PEACE AND THE INTEGRITY OF CREATION

OCTOBER 2011

1. The Reality at Hand in Nigeria Today:
Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation can be fully realised if and only if humanity as a whole plays its own role in order to compliment that of God himself. And God in his wisdom has given us that ability and has initiated us towards that realisation. Nigeria, as it is popularly known, 'The Giant of Africa', after decades of dictatorial nuisance and manipulation has for once streamlined itself into democratic stance through April elections. Of course, democracy is far more than elections; however, the holding of transparent, accountable and credible elections is an important cornerstone of the democratic process in any country.

Missionaries of Africa in Nigeria especially those working with Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) of the Archdiocese of Ibadan were part and parcel of the observers to making sure that the elections were credible. After the elections, Nigerians had great hopes in their newly elected leaders, and gradually though slowly things are getting into a reasonable shape.

However, the Islamic extremists known as Boko Haram are staining and traumatising Nigeria and Nigerians by their inhuman actions of bombing and killing innocent people. The highest of all was that of bombing UN office in Abuja last month. Moreover, today many institutions, hospitals, airports, mosques and churches are threatened by the Boko Haram members, making life uncomfortable and suspicious. Part of our work as believers in Justice and Peace and Integrity of Creation is to find and facilitate a lasting resolution to all this 'wahala!'

2. Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), Ibadan Archdiocese:
2. 1. Establishment of Justice, Development and Peace Commissions in the Parishes:
The Archdiocese of Ibadan has over years embarked on grassroot evangelisation, as part of creation of this awareness, the Archbishop has been encouraging the establishment of Justice, Development and Peace Commissions in all parishes in the Archdiocese. The idea behind all this is to enhance the understanding and disposition of the faithful to the Social Teaching of the Church as well as their social responsibilities as Christians.

With the efforts of core professional staff who are very dedicated animated by Fr. James Ngahy, M. Afr., have so far been able to establish these commissions in 11 parishes. St. Thomas Catholic Church which is taken care of by the team of the Missionaries of Africa, is among them. It is well organised and a number of issues concerning Justice, Development and Peace are being addressed accordingly.
Projects based on self sustainability have been introduced and they are growing steadily. A credit goes to the Society of the Missionaries of Africa as well as to the team of our confreres for their encouragement and support.

As a whole the establishment and follow up of Justice, Development and Peace Commissions in the parishes demands a lot of travelling from one parish to the other. As part of the follow up we have already conducted three seminars/workshops at deanery level. Indeed, we do attend some of their meetings which take place once a month in those parishes.

We also face some challenges in our effort to establish these JDPCs in the parishes.
(i) Some of the priests fail to see the need of these commissions; hence, little participation or encouragement to their parishioners.
(ii) Moreover, some of the parishes are far from our office and this makes difficult for the animator to attend some of their meetings especially when they are to meet in the evening or on Sunday after Mass.

2. 2. Skill Acquisition Programme for Catholic Women:
Having identified some of the issues related to JPIC in the different parishes, the Parish JDPC department in July 2011 organised Skill Acquisition Training Program for some widows, low/non-income earners wives and unemployed-out of school young ladies. The training aimed at empowering the beneficiaries to have skills which will help them to have some income instead of depending on their relatives/friends who do abuse them or take advantage of them sometimes. In order to make it a wholistic training, every morning there was an input on Catholic Social Teaching. The following themes were presented to them in a simple way (in Yoruba - the local language) taking into account the standard of the understanding of the participants:
(i) God's Plan of Love for humanity and Human Response Today
(ii) Principles and Understanding of the Church's Social Teaching
(iii) Evangelisation and Social Doctrine of the Church
(iv) Peace: the Fruit of Justice and Love

At the end of the training the qualified participants were awarded with certificates and a small loan was given to them in order to start off a project in relation to the training/skills acquired.

2. 3. Floods of August 26th 2011:
The metropolitan city of Ibadan on Friday 26th of August 2011 witnessed a downpour that lasted for several hours which resulted into the flooding of streams, drainages, waterways, roads and pathways, claiming many lives and unquantifiable properties. It is claimed that this unfortunate incident occurred just five days to the anniversary of the day rain wreaked havoc in Ibadan 31 years ago in August 31, 1980.

The area around our parish, St. Thomas Catholic Church, Agbowo, was one of most affected areas. In fact, even the parish wall was damaged. Justice, Development and Peace Commission led by the Archbishop himself, made an official visit to some of the affected victims and areas, Agbowo and the University of Ibadan being among them.
At the end of the visit, the Archbishop, Felix Alaba Job, called on the State government to urgently construct more relief centres and provide the victims essential needed materials, security and health facilities.

From his own part, he called on all the parishes of the Archdiocese to make financial and other material contributions for the victims through JDPC. Some of them have already been distributed while the remaining will be offered to the victims on Wednesday 12th October 2011 in the presence of the Archbishop himself.

2. 4. Planning Ahead:
The team has organised a workshop for the leaders of JPDCs from the parishes of East and South deaneries. This will take place from 13th to 15th October 2011 at the Archdiocesan JDPC headquarters. The workshop will:
(i) Look at the Catholic Social Teaching and how it can impact people in the different parishes from a practical viewpoint.
(ii) Evaluate on the so far established JDPCs in the Archdiocese and how they can assist to start the un-established ones.
(iii) Identify some of the common problems related to JPIC and how to tackle them in commonality.
(iii) See at the possibility of having common general structure of JDPCs of parishes
which will be presented to the Archbishop.

3. Our Communities/Parishes and JPIC:
So far St. Thomas Parish has a good organised Justice, Development and Peace Commission. Some of the activities have been mentioned above. However, the issue of the salaries of the workers need to be addressed. Practically, they all receive much below hundred dollars. In the same vein the workers of the formation house though recently we were able to up-graded them to some extent.

Our parish(es) in Oshogbo diocese JDPC is not yet established. Most of the activities or issues are handled by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. At the level of the diocese itself efforts are being made to establish Justice, Development and Peace Commissions in all the parishes. In the meantime, the diocesan commission is dealing with the logistics of the whole matter.

Our new postulants from both Ghana and Nigeria have just finished their orientation week, and soon classes will begin. Those involved in their formation take seriously Society's commitment that, "Special attention should be given to education in the social doctrine of the Church, to reconciliation, education for peace and to conflict management" (Capitular Acts: XXVII General Chapter, no. 6).

'We should not overlook justice and the love of God! These we should practise, without leaving the others undone' (cf. Lk. 11:42).

James Ngahy, M. Afr.,
Missionaries of Africa,
Ibadan, Nigeria October 10, 2010