The Metropolitan Archbishop of Lomé, Mgr Nicodème Barrigah-Bénissan, invites African and especially Togolese youth to remain alert so as not to give in to anything to the detriment of the values of the black continent. This is, among other things, one of the useful pieces of advice given by the prelate to young students last week.
The Bishop of the diocese of Lomé urges young people to develop a constant passion for African values. “International organizations put pressure on our States to bring us practices that are not part of our cultures under the pretext of financing our projects; to adopt, for example, homosexuality and many things. Keep it clear in your mind that we have our values which are non-negotiable,” recommended the president of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (CVJR).
Bishop Barrigah’s advice went beyond this first. The vice-chancellor of the Catholic University of West Africa-University Unit of Togo (UCAO-UUT) called on young people not to have any ambition other than to immigrate abroad. “We have the impression that all students dream of is going to Europe, leaving behind our African continent. While they thus desert our lands, those who know its value through covetousness come. Ultimately, we risk finding ourselves on a continent depopulated by its own sons and populated by foreigners,” he warned.
The archbishop also encouraged students to love work and avoid laziness. In this sense, he asked them to imitate the perseverance and tenacity that the Chinese demonstrate in work.
The prelate did not fail to insist on the quest for justice. “We are sometimes used to corridor games, to games of influence where ultimately the people we know end up replacing diplomas, merits and skills,” he notes, asking the young people “ to be just and upright because it is the small compromises of today that make tomorrow, the big failings that we all complain about.”
Finally, the vice-chancellor of UCAO-UUT, in his homily, taken from the Gospel according to Matthew in chapter 7, verses 21-27, recommended to the students to love God. “You must build your life on the rock, that is, on God himself and not on material goods, because nothing can replace God,” he said.
It was on the occasion of a pontifical mass on October 16, 2023 in Lomé, on the occasion of the start of the academic year at UCAO-UUT.
Atha ASSAN