The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, has warned that Nigeria is drifting towards a deeper national crisis, describing a country battered by insecurity, economic hardship and what he called a collapse of public trust.
In his 2026 Easter message, titled Faith and Hope in Times of Turbulence, Kukah said Nigeria had become trapped in a cycle of instability driven not only by external pressures but by “self-generated turbulence” among its political elite.
“Turbulence is Nigeria’s surname,” he said, offering a bleak assessment of a nation struggling to regain its footing amid mounting social and economic strain.
The bishop pointed to a worsening security crisis that he said had evolved into a humanitarian emergency, with thousands killed, millions displaced and communities left fractured. Drawing on imagery attributed to Pope Francis, Kukah described the country as a “field hospital”, overwhelmed by the scale of suffering.
“After over 20 years and well over 20,000 corpses… the grim harvester still roams freely across the country,” he said.
He warned that prolonged insecurity and institutional fatigue were eroding public confidence, pushing some citizens into dangerous compromises. “Years of fatigue have lured ordinary citizens into the treacherous embrace of bandits,” he said, noting that in some cases individuals had become informants, “trading the future of their families and communities”.
Kukah also turned his criticism towards Nigeria’s political leadership, accusing it of failing to translate promises into meaningful progress. He said widespread unemployment and poverty were extinguishing the aspirations of young people.
“The Nigerian landscape is still riddled with unredeemed promissory notes,” he said. “Unemployment is smothering the dreams of young people in the cradles of their hope.”
He dismissed short-term relief efforts, such as food distribution, as evidence of deeper structural failure rather than sustainable solutions. “Merely distributing food… is an admission of the failure of our nation to develop robust and aggressive agricultural plans to end hunger,” he argued.
Despite his stark diagnosis, Kukah urged Nigerians — particularly Christians marking Easter — to resist despair and remain committed to both faith and civic responsibility. “We may be struck down, but we cannot be destroyed,” he said, calling for a balance between self-defence and a continued commitment to peace.
He also challenged citizens to look beyond blame and take responsibility for rebuilding the country’s social fabric. “It is a great mistake for us to ignore what role each and every one of us can play,” he said. “Let us not surrender to despair… we could become guilty bystanders.”
Invoking biblical imagery, Kukah concluded on a note of cautious hope, suggesting that Nigeria’s current crisis, though severe, was not insurmountable. “The boat of our nation is threatening to sink… yet even in his sleep, he is awake to command the storm to be still,” he said.
