Church in the World

?We talk, we bark, but we can?t bite? ? archbishop

Nigeria

Despite strenuous efforts, Nigeria's bishops are powerless to stop their country's corruption, the Archbishop of Jos has told The Tablet. "We talk, we bark, but we can't bite. We talk tough but we have no authority," said Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, during a visit to Britain to promote Cafod's Live Simply campaign last month.

Corruption is the main cause of the oil-rich country's poverty, said the Nigerian archbishop, adding that it was "pathetic" that his country had "nothing to show" for its oil industry except barren land, polluted rivers and civil unrest. Last Wednesday up to 150 people in Kaduna state died trying to scoop up spilt petrol from a crashed tanker that exploded.

"It's a symptom of the great deprivation," said the archbishop. "People know how dangerous it is but somehow they are pressured to just try their luck. It's a great shame. If there were good social insurance and more employment for the youths I don't think they would be prepared to run after petrol tankers."

The archbishop added that African corruption could not be solved by Africans alone, because corrupt Nigerians found "allies in the West" who made it too easy for them to bank large sums of laundered money. "Banks need to ask more tough questions when someone shows up with £10 million. They've begun, but that should have been going on long ago," the archbishop said.

Archbishop Kaigama also spoke of his approach to interreligious dialogue, in a country blighted by Christian-Muslim tensions. Last month he invited a regional emir, Alhaji Dr Haruna Abdullahi, to the centenary celebration of the Society of Africa Missionaries in northern Nigeria which was attended by Ivan Cardinal Dias, Prefect for the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. He called the emir to the stage which, he said, "achieved more than 10 months' preaching".