The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reports that Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo on Monday, gave an assurance that government will protect Nigerians in their places of worship and ensure that they practice their chosen faith, in freedom.
Osinbajo gave the assurance at the Christian Centre during the Service of Nine Lessons Christmas Carol, tagged `Celebrating Jesus, The Light’ taken from the book of John Chapter 1 Verses 1 to 5.
He said that the Federal Government would continue to work hard to restores what the country had lost over the years.
“On the part of government, you have our assurance that we shall continue to live by example, working hard and diligently every day to restore the years that the canker worms have eaten.
“Government will continue to dutifully protect lives and property with all the means of the disposal while also protecting the life of every Nigerian to freely worship in their chosen faith.
“We shall continue to pursue dialogue, reconciliation and nation building as we continue to focus on some of the areas of divergence and differences in our national lives.
According to him, “when we live in love and we live in peace, we live in prosperity and so we should love our nation enough to serve it with diligence and upright awe.’’
Osinbajo informed that with God and the unrelenting determination by government to resolve the problems facing the country, better days are ahead of Nigeria.
He reminded Christians to practice love, service to the Lord and exemplary characters as Christmas was just around the corner.
His Eminence, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, in his message, described Christmas as a special celebration of the Christian faith that involves the whole world.
According to Onaiyekan, “It is a season for sharing, for expressing solidarity and for reaching out to others especially to the poor and needy.
“There must not be less generosity amongst us all; perhaps we must seriously consider this year with the exchange of gifts; there are so many of our countrymen who are in distress and poverty.
“This is a spiritual asset, which will make a positive impact in our land; true religion must be for peace, for justice, for honesty and harmony.
“Christmas is a time for us to take up anew the challenges of fashioning good relations among our religious communities.’’
He said Christmas was a season for sharing, for expressing solidarity and for reaching out to others especially to the poor and needy.
(NAN)