The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Archdioceses, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, has called on the Federal Government to establish a ministry that will cater for family affairs.
The cleric made the call at the opening of the 4th Abuja Archdiocesan General Assembly on Thursday in Abuja.
Speaking on the theme, “Marriage and Family in Contemporary Society,” he said that in contemporary society, marriages and Christian families are faced with numerous challenges due to secularism, influence of the social media, materialism, consumerism, and relativism, according to Daily Nigeria.
The cleric opined that the essence of the ministry is the aftermath of an increasing number of broken homes and single parenting in the society.
He stressed that some families struggle to rise above their challenges by remaining faithful to traditional Christian values.
“A nation can be strong so long as its families are strong. A nation can be said to be crumbling if its families are falling apart and riddled with moral decay.
“The existence of good families is essential for the existence of the society. Pope John Paul II teaches that the family is the core of all society.
“For this reason, policies must be adopted which protect and promote the family, the school of social virtues.
“While national issues of politics, governance, economy, and climate change are on the front burner, we must not forget that the family, the nucleus of the nation, is seriously in danger of breakdown.
“More than allocating grants and palliatives, families need to be empowered and supported by the government to embark on sustainable entrepreneurial activities.
“In other countries I visit, they even pay you to give birth to a child, and when you have given birth to a child, your child has an allowance and you too have an allowance.
“There is paternity leave, their maternity leave, government encourages them so our government should borrow a leave from these countries.
“If possible, there should be a ministry of the family, a ministry dedicated to the family, when you lose a family, the society suffers,” he said.
