The Church has always proclaimed the demands of the Gospel regarding social, political and economic behaviour. Inspired by the teaching of the Scriptures with its precepts of justice, peace, non violence and compassion towards the poor, the hungry, thirsty, the naked, the sick, the stranger, the prisoner and the widow (cf. Ex. 22: 21-22; Is 1:17; 58:6-7; Mt. 25: 31, 34), she has regularly defended the poor and weak, denounced oppression and exploitation, and promoted justice, peace and charity. The Church is convinced that she cannot fulfil her evangelising mission without penetrating and transforming the social, political and economic spheres of human existence with the spirit of the Gospel and helping to liberate the human race from oppressive, degrading or dehumanising situations.

In the face of the widespread injustice, inequalities and imbalances that keep the majority of the world population in poverty and misery, and in view of fostering in all nations and in the international community the justice and love of Christ for the poor, the Second Vatican Council called for the creation of
some organ of the universal Church to be entrusted with the task of arousing the Catholic community to promote the progress of areas in want and to foster social justice among nations (Gaudium et Spes, no. 90). In response to this call Pope Paul VI, in 1967 established the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
through which the Church attends to issues related to justice, peace, development and human rights. Since the proclamation of justice and peace is an integral part of proclaiming the Gospel, this organ or similar organs were also to be established in local and particular Churches. This informed the establishment of the Catholic Welfare Committee in the early 1960s which became the Justice, Development and Peace Committee by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) in 1976.

Since this is a very important organ of evangelisation in Africa, Pope John Paul II urged Episcopal Conferences in Africa to establish, where they do not yet exist, the Justice and Peace Committee at various levels (Ecclesia in Africa, no. 106).
Though over the recent years, the Nigerian church adopted Justice, Development and Peace as the objectives of her intervention towards overcoming the pauperization of the people. JDP/Caritas Commissions became the option and the thrust to conquer all kinds of emergencies and to promote
human development in all Nigerian dioceses and on all levels of the church.
Social justice has been aimed at by the promotion of Human Rights. The increasing violence in our country is challenging JDP/Caritas to address non violent conflict transformation as a specific element of its work. The Signs of the Times: A Short Social Analysis.

An analysis of the mechanism of the present day society in Nigeria leads to the discovery of the fact that the conditions of poverty, hardship and misery that prevail in our nation today are to be seen as a result of unjust social structures.
They are not entirely accidental but a product of the human heart, wounded by sin: colonialism, neo-colonialism, greed, endemic corruption, poor governance, violation of human rights, the use of violence in families and in society, external debt burden, ethnic and religious tensions, pollution and degradation of the environment, etc. In recent times there is a growing demand among the poor and exploited in our Nigerian society to have a fair share of the resources in the world, now controlled by a few. They justly more and more demand their rights to be respected and fulfilled. Vatican II, in speaking of these aspirations in today's society, identifies the longing for justice; liberation and human promotion as characteristic of our age (cf. GS 9). The actual globalizing economy with its growing demand for the national resources of Nigeria forces more attention towards the just and equal use of the national income. In view of forthcoming doubling or tripling exports in the coming decade, good governance, transparency, participation and ending the corruption by just distribution and appropriate use are absolute necessities.
Along with these new phenomena, there is a concern for peace: “which calls more and more for rigorous respect for justice, and consequently, for a fair distribution of the benefits of development” (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis no. 26). It is becoming clear that problems like poverty, external debt, terrorism, trade
imbalance, environmental protection, afflicting the world today, can only be overcome by local action embedded in international solidarity and by the transformation of the social, political and economic systems of nations and the international community.