IBADAN- The Catholic Archbishop Emeritus and the Apostolic Administrator of Ibadan Archdiocese, Most Rev. Dr. Felix Alaba Adeosin Job, have urged Nigerians to learn how to tolerate each other despite ethnic and language barriers.

Archbishop Emeritus Job said this during a media chat organized by the Directorate of Communication, Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan, as part of celebration marking his sent-forth and the installation of the new Archbishop Gabriel Leke Abegunrin.

At the press briefing which was held in his residence at Onireke Ibadan, Oyo State, the clergyman, who is also a veteran professional teacher, said there is no reason why geo-political zones in Nigeria should separate because despite the fact that each has different gifts and unique attributes, these gifts would be properly harnessed only if they are put together.

”It is not good that each region should separate. For better development, we must learn how to tolerate one another.

“We must not be jealous of one another because the idea of separation arouse from envy. When Southerners began to look down on Northerners and those from the East started getting jealous of the Southerners, then envy will arise and lack of tolerance would evolve.

“But when we learn how to cope with one another, we would be able to complement our weaknesses and with that, we can grow as Nigeria, he said.

On the forthcoming National Confab, Archbishop Emeritus Job described it is the right step in the right direction, saying it would enable Nigerians the opportunity of reviewing the constitution handed down by the military.

“The constitution was handed down to us by the military which is systematically unitary. Now that we are in the democratic realm where states can take certain decisions on their own without waiting for order from a single person who is the commander- in-chief, the National Confab would definitely enable many defects in the constitution to be corrected by the populace themselves.

In conclusion, Archbishop Emeritus Job, who has been in charge of Ibadan Archdiocese  for the past 42 years,  encouraged Catholic faithfuls in the Archdiocese not to relent in their quest to growing spiritually, stressing his confidence that the new Archbishop who will officially take over from him in January 2014, Most Rev.Dr. Gabriel Leke Abegunrin is equal to the enormous task of shepherding the flock of Ibadan Archdiocese since he was   appointed under the guardians of the Holy Spirit.  

Archbishop Emeritus Felix Alaba Job officially retires as the person in charge of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan having reach 75 years which is the Canonical age of retirement, while the Bishop of Osogbo Diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Gabriel Leke Abegunrin was appointed to take over from him as the new Archbishop of the Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province.