Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Mathew Kukah, has advised the Federal Government to enforce the provision for the freedom of religion and worship especially in Northern Nigeria, as enshrined in the nation’s constitution and other laws of the land.

The Bishop who spoke to journalists shortly after the inaugural Mass at the catholic chaplaincy of the 119 Composite Group of the Nigeria Air Force Sokoto, said this can be achieved by providing adherents of different faiths in the country with places of worship in the various Federal Government establishments.

Bishop Kukah observed that most federal government establishments in the North have no provisions for places of worship for Christians which is in breach of the constitutional provision.

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Nigeria, is a tireless advocate for justice, democracy, and human development.

Priest and political scientist, he has served as a member of Nigeria’s Truth Commission, as secretary of the Political Reform Conference for Nigeria, and as a member of Nigeria’s Electoral Reform Committee. He played an important role in negotiating an end to the Shell-Ogoni conflict in Nigeria’s delta region.

A champion of respectful Christian-Muslim relations, Bishop Kukah served as chairman of the Committee on Interreligious Dialogue in Nigeria and West Africa and was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as a member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Named vicar general of the Archdiocese of Kaduna in 2004, he became bishop of Sokoto in 2011.

Bishop Kukah was ordained a priest in Kaduna in 1976 at age 24. He subsequently earned a diploma in religious studies from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, a BA in divinity from the Urban University, Rome, a master’s in peace studies from the University of Bradford, UK, and a PhD in political science from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

He was a senior Rhodes fellow at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford and an Edward Mason Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

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