Popular Nigerian clergyman, Tunde Bakare, has stated that there is a need for the government to dialogue with the people to come to an understanding amid the ongoing nationwide protest against hunger in the nation.
The General Overseer of Citadel Global Community Church insisted that all parties must approach the dialogue table with open minds and transparency.
Bakare stated this at the Wilson and Yinka Badejo Memorial Lecture 2024 held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Speaking at the event, Bakare lamented that Nigerian politicians were not living lean or sacrificing like the rest of the citizens whom they asked to sacrifice for the country by enduring economic hardship.
He delivered the keynote address with the theme: “Cultivating a Culture of Dialogue: Nurturing Understanding in a Culturally and Socially Diverse Nation.”
Bakare said, “All parties must approach the dialogue table with open minds, effective communication and empathy. Open and honest communication helps to establish transparency, making intentions and actions clear. When leaders communicate transparently, they demonstrate that they have nothing to hide, and that builds trust.
“Empathy is a bedrock of dialogue. It requires us to see beyond our own perspective and seek to comprehend the experiences of others. The ability to feel with others, to share in their joys and sorrows.
“It also means sitting where the people sit, as in the book of Ezekiel – feeling their pains and sharing their burdens. An empathetic leader does not feed fat while asking the people to tighten their belts. Nigerian political leaders have mostly not demonstrated empathy. Otherwise, how do you live so large while your people are ravished in (penury)?”
According to the cleric, who also spoke on the heels of the #Endbadgovernance protests in Nigeria, hunger knows no religion, tribe or political party.
“This is why it’s often said that hunger is a unifier. This is why citizens are responding or reacting to the hashtag #EndBadGovernance protests across the land, from the North to the South, to the East to the West. Hunger does not ask whether you are a Muslim or a Christian, male or female, Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, APC, PDP, or Labour Party,” he added.
