After destruction

He is now in Milan because he is convinced that only the families and education can change things in his country, because “when the families are destroyed, the whole country is destroyed”. At the 7th World Meeting of the Families which is in progress in Milan, SIR met Msgr. Martin Igwe Uzoukwu, Bishop of Minna (Nigeria), who saw 43 people die, and many get injured or mutilated, on Christmas day, when a bomb exploded in front of the church of St. Therese, in Medalla, after the Mass. Many more people could have died had he not invited people to go in front of the church for a special prayer to the Infant Jesus. On the same day other bombs went off to hit Christian churches; all the attacks were claimed by Boku Aram, an Islamic fundamentalist group. Simona Mengascini interviewed Msgr. Uzoukwe at Family 2012.

Msgr. Uzoukwe, as a shepherd, could you tell us how you can start afresh after such a tragedy?
“My work is aimed at the healing of individuals and the families. Of course I am collecting funds to rebuild the church of St. Therese, but the most important thing is to reconstruct the Church as People of God. I am doing my best to save the lives destroyed from the attack: brothers who lost their sisters, husbands who lost their wives, mothers who lost their children… the families are devastated. I found a lot of pain and suffering, but I’m working hard to help all these people involved in the disaster. I wrote a prayer in several local languages, and each day our priests, when they celebrate Mass, recite it and remember what happened to the victims”.

What is most urgent right now?
“We must always return to Christ, who is our foundation, especially in times of need. Christ is my strength and the power of all Christians, and Jesus in the Gospel calls us to ‘take up our cross’ and suffer for the love of God. I try to understand what people need, but before any action we need to pray and meditate on Jesus our Lord. Then you can do many things, such as, for example, foster economic growth through agricultural cooperatives, where farmers share work and profits”.

What are the roots of this difficult situation in Nigeria?
“The country first of all has many internal problems, related to the rampant corruption that harms people and does not stop this situation of danger and violence, then there are international forms of pressure, which are of economic, legal and cultural nature: especially young people fall victim of the latter”.

Is the family an important value for Nigerian society?
“Nigerians have very strong family values and our families may be a model for the Church. In the family, love grows and people ‘bloom’. In Nigeria, pro-life culture prevails; for example, as concerns the debate on abortion, Nigerian women and mothers protested and persuaded our legislators not to legalize the practice”.

(30 May 2012)