The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday magazine

  • Apostolic children celebrate

    No fewer than 120 children choir of the Apostolic Faith Church performed during the Children’s Day celebrated in the church last week.

    They held the audience spell-bound with songs delivered in Yoruba, Igbo and Efik.

    It was a spectacle to see four, five year olds playing the violin. They played inspiring melodious songs with the piano, orchestra and duets.

    The celebration with the theme Shining light was the second of its kind.

    It was to encourage children in drama, singing and use of musical instruments.

    The head of the Children’s Sunday School of the Apostolic Faith West and Central Africa, Christiana Oshiodipe, said the event was held to thrill children and charge them to deploy their talents in working for God.

    “Our purpose is to show other children the opportunity they have, that they can dramatise, they can sing and they can play instruments in the church,” she stressed.

    She urged parents to make their children shining lights in their community by bringing them to God even at tender ages.

  • ‘God, not anointing, determines healing’

    ‘God, not anointing, determines healing’

    The Senior Pastor of Sovereign Word Church, Egbeda, Lagos, Pastor Antoni Okoh, is a renowned healing evangelist. He spoke with reporters on how to access healing and sundry issues. Sunday Oguntola was there

    How did you come about the vision of Day of Recovery?

    The vision has been birthed in my heart right from my childhood, precisely at 13. My encounter at that time could be described as the key catalyst that actually thrust me into the healing ministry and that was how I got to know Jesus.

    I fell sick and what they thought was malaria was later discovered to be tuberculosis of the bones and it damaged my cartilage. Within a space of months, I could not walk. That caused me to actually repeat a class. There was something demonic about the sickness because after about one year, the doctors felt I was not improving and had me forcefully discharged. It was then my elder sister invited me to a crusade that was being conducted by the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa at Upper Mission Road, Benin City. That was in 1980.

    He played host to Evangelist R. W. Shambach, a minister from America. It was in that crusade I got healed and till date, the testimony of the healing is still standing. I gave my life to Christ also at that crusade. My sister actually was the leader of her fellowship at Lydia College in Benin and all secondary schools in the area were mobilised to attend the crusade. The two people that actually brought me out of the car were Pastor Chris Oyakhilome and Dr. Boyo.

    Pastor Chris was actually the President of the Christian Fellowship at Edo College and Pastor Boyo, a medical doctor, has a church now in Mafoluku, Lagos. They were the two people that held me physically while prayers were being offered. I could walk but it was at that crusade that I took my first leap after almost a year of being bedridden.

    So, what is the connection between sickness and the healing ministry?

    For a child of about 13 years to have been bedridden, seeing your mates go to school and not being able to walk, the emotional torment and torture is intense but eventually, when God gives you a second chance to bounce back to life, the experience just ignites a passion in you naturally to see other people healed. Also, you can identify with the suffering of people that are sick and infirmed. Sometimes you cannot really be compassionate until you have been in places where other people have been. So my case was like, ‘Yes you have tasted sickness, you have known what it means for doctors to say, ‘there is nothing we can do.’” Then, God gives you a miracle. It just makes you passionate to see other people healed and delivered.

    Would you recall your first healing experience as a minister?

    Just about that same period, I went back to school after receiving the healing. Then I was in Class Four and the Church of God Mission automatically became my church and the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa became my pastor. Every Sunday we watched him on television and saw all his crusades abroad.

    After a while, we also put up a crusade right in the dinning hall of our school and asked our fellow students to go and bring all the sick people around. Interestingly, our friends brought a lot of sick people. In fact, it was a frightening experience. Funny enough, there were a couple of deaf and dumb persons there too. But you know what, I just did what I saw Papa Idahosa did. I put my ear near their ears and my finger on their tongue, though I didn’t know what those gestures signified. I just replicated what I saw him do and said, “You deaf and dumb spirit, come out in the name of Jesus.”

    Though the first, second and third persons were not healed, I didn’t have a choice but to continue because in the hall, people were laughing and booing me. It was a full hall, so we just kept on trying and it was at the fourth attempt that the miracle happened. The deaf and dumb spoke and the crowd erupted in jubilation.

    Which particular healing has remained with you, which you consider outstanding, unforgettable and most thrilling such that anytime you remember your ministry, that incident keeps coming to mind?

    There was a particular time I was invited to minister in a church at Iba Estate, Ojo, and an 18- year- old lady was brought to me. Her name is Elizabeth. She had never spoken or heard before. She was born deaf and dumb and there were medical reports to confirm that. She was brought to the meeting by her parents and I was so scared. In fact, that was one of the things that made that miracle very unique.

    If I tell you I had faith, I would be lying. I was so scared, I was not comfortable and they just thrust this girl to me. If I had a fore-knowledge of that situation, I would not even allow anybody to step upstage and thrust her at me. I prayed for her, just to fulfill all righteousness, not even expecting anything to happen.

    I then went on to test her and miraculously, she started hearing and talking. It was so dramatic. I called her name and she repeated it. Anything she heard, she spoke it clearly. That day, I drove into the night, just overwhelmed by what had just happened.

    You know, the average pastor will tell you, “I fasted, I prayed and so on.” But in this case, I was reminded of that meeting only that afternoon. There was no sign that anything unusual would happen. It was just like any other day. So, I saw the sovereignty of God at work. That was what actually thrilled me about that miracle.

    There was nothing about me that had to do with the healing of that girl. So, I saw another side of God that it is His will to see the sick healed. We are only instruments in the hand of God.

    With your experience in the ministry, would you say there is healing for everyone?

    My answer is yes and no. Do you know that death itself is a form of healing? It is a situation where mortality takes up immortality. We see death as an enemy- fine! But it is also a way for a believer to take up a new body. There are many times and situations where we have prayed for people’s healing passionately but they died. Technically, death is another form of healing.

    Has it happened in your ministry?

    Several times!

    How does that make you feel when you pray and instead of getting healed, the person dies?

    It shows that we are only instruments in the hand of God. God chooses the prayer He answers. I have done crusades where I did not see any evidential sign of miracle but I just continued because I knew it would come at another time. I have packed equipment from meetings overnight and went home depressed, never planning to do another one but later inspired to host another crusade.

    Would you mention some of the challenges you have faced in this area of calling?

    Yes! The expectation put on me is too high, especially from the people that are dying. Most times you are left with guilt after the person you prayed for dies. Sometimes you can’t sleep. It is like you should have an explanation to give to the family of the bereaved.

    There are times you have had to tell a wife that her husband would live and you are so sure. At such times you believe you have heard from God, only to be faced with the death of that person. Then the wife begins to query you, “But Pastor, you told me my husband would not die?”

    At such times, you are in a tight spot as you have to explain to the wife and children that God is good and sovereign. I believe that what we call death is a healing of a kind.

    As a close associate and friend of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, how do you feel when you hear about his association with Pastor TB Joshua to acquire more power?

    To the people that grew up with him, that would be like a slap. I remember in 1984 after I left secondary school, I did not do well in my WAEC so I went to repeat it in a village called Obayatan. Then, I put up a crusade in the village and invited Pastor Chris’ team. So, he came from Ekpoma with some other brethren.

    The chief of Obayatan had a daughter that was crippled and they put a brace on her legs.

    Then, he turned to the girl with the brace and looked at her for a minute. I was watching him. Then he took that brace from the girl, did a song and asked everybody to stretch their hands towards her. You could see the leg of that child that it was different from the other one. She was said to have been injected and this led to the paralysis.

    After praying and singing, he told the girl to run and just after taking two steps, she ran so fast. That miracle brought tears to many eyes. I travelled with him to many villages for crusades, so I have a firsthand experience of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome’s healing ministry. He has the healing anointing. What I believe transpired between him and TB Joshua was like you are into the healing ministry and then you see another dimension of the healing being done through another person.

    You see, gifts may differ. There are people in healing ministry who have more successes with people having tumours and cancers. There are those who have great results with the fruit of the womb or bone cure. For Prophet TB Joshua, I think he must have seen something quite unique about Pastor Chris.

    Once you are in the miraculous, you are always drawn to someone in that ministry too. So, it is just a case of going to see what God is doing with somebody else.

    Could you say it was a meeting of exchange of power?

    Exchange? When talking about anointing, the fact is that when I see another level of anointing in you, the Bible allows me to covet what you have. If I come close to you, it will rub off on me.

    So, how do you differentiate between healing that is coming from God and the devil?

    All I know is that I have never known false healing before. I do not know how it is done. All I know is that I call upon God and he answers. For anybody doing miracles through demonic powers, I salute his courage.

    What should we expect ahead of the next edition of Day of Recovery?

    It holds next Sunday at the Banquet Hall of Excellence Hotel, Ogba and we are looking at having three thousand people in attendance.

  • ‘Sovereign Wealth is not a pension fund’

    ‘Sovereign Wealth is not a pension fund’

    Mr. Uche Orji is the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), he spoke with journalists recently in Abuja. Assistant Editor, Nduka Chiejina was there.  

     

     

    Right now there is $1billion in the fund, How much do you see coming into the fund and the timeline, has there been an agreement within government and what exactly will be the mechanism of getting money into the fund, when would more funds be injected into the fund?

    There are three factors as you know that affects contributions to the fund and those three factors include price of oil, benchmark rate and production levels. The Act is very clear as to the contributions to the fund, what it says is that revenue in excess of the benchmark rates less than what is prescribed in the budget should be contributed to the NSIA account. It takes time to be operational and the idea is that the Act will be followed interms of the contribution to the fund. We have also been very careful how we run the organisation as you know with most endowments. Regarding the governors, the NSIA is not a party to any suit, there is a suit between the federal government and the state governments, the NSIA is not a party to any suit. There is an enabling law that set up the NSIA. What we have done is to reach out to the governors who are part of the governing council anyway. The governing council is made up of roughly 54 people and the state governors are members as shareholders. This fund is owned by the three tiers of government, the federal government, state government and local governments with the President as the chairman of the economic council which also includes the governors. We are not party to any law suit as on-going with the federal government.

    When would money be injected?

    The Act is clear that it will be transferred monthly, but again we need to be fully operational and ready for the new funds to come in so there is conversation on-going already and for the funds to be transferred. We are ready to start investing, in June stabilisation fund gets invested starting from June as well the future generation fund starts and before the end of the year we make commitments to infrastructure. These are early stages for operational investments. The early stages will take time to work themselves out before we start seeing contributions come in.

    Does that mean you will be waiting to be fully operational before funds will be injected?

    I just said that discussions are on-going and conversations are on as we speak.

    So you are not sure and it is open-ended when funds will come into the fund?

    I don’t want to say open-ended, conversations are on-going.

    In your investment portfolio, what are your expectation in terms of returns say in the next one year?

    Each of the funds have returns objectives, we don’t want to put numbers down that will affect our ability to negotiate because we have co-investors, the reality is that we are going to earn commercial returns on the infrastructure side as well as earn returns that will march the benchmark we have set for the future generation and the stabilisation funds.

    Our objective is to build returns above inflation. Here the reporting currency will be the dollar, the Nigerian infrastructure fund has geographical restrictions, the other two funds do not have geographical restrictions.

    For the future generation funds most savings funds have done roughly four to five per cent over time. That’s for savings funds we are expecting to earn CPI at + above 400 basis points above the future generation fund. For the infrastructure fund each project will be negotiated and so we cannot put a number out there but look at what people earn in terms of commercial infrastructure investments in Nigeria and that will give you an idea as to what we are targeting. We understand what is at stake here. These funds will invest in those things that straddle commercial returns and development impact and the way it is in Nigeria these two factors are not mutually exclusive; each is negotiated on a project by project basis. The law enables us to make commercial returns on these investments. So just look at some of the infrastructure we have in Nigeria and that will give you an idea of what returns we may be having on these infrastructure investment.

    You said you will service staff salaries from your earnings, if you are not likely to make any earnings in the next one year how will you service staff salaries?

    As an organisation we are trying to stay within a cost to asset ratio of 1% which is why we will have a lean staff, it is easy in our opinion to earn what it takes to keep our expenses running and more. Our objective is to earn consistent profitability. Our Act says we will have to repatriate dividends to all the tiers of government that own this fund after five years of consistent profitability. It is one of our objectives and we intend to achieve it. We are keeping a very lean head count and we can afford it.

    With the NSIA commencing operation, does this mean that there will no longer be sharing of the Excess Crude Account?

    I will not speak on Excess Crude Account that is the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority. The way and when the Excess Crude Account is shared is for the Minister of Finance and the Federal Executive Council, in terms of what commitments to the Excess Crude Account that is not in my place to comment on.

    In the case of Infrastructure fund that will bring in benefits for the people, are you going to charge on the roads and other infrastructure?

    In terms of our infrastructure commitment, some of the infrastructure areas will be Greenfield areas that means that we are not going to earn anything for some time. It will take two to three years to complete before you start earning something, some are late stage projects and I mentioned six (6) areas that we want to focus on and we will make commitments before the end of the year in these areas. We don’t expect that we will earn anything from infrastructure fund until next year, so most of the returns we are targeting will come from the future generation fund and from the stabilisation fund in the first year that’s where we are expecting returns to come through in the first year. The idea is to grow our cost base as we earn a return. We believe that we will earn enough from the stabilisation fund and the future generation fund to cover our overhead. We add staff, as time goes on we expect to earn from infrastructure fund starting from next year, these things take time and I don’t expect it to fund our operations for some time.

    Specific areas I mentioned include agriculture, water resources, power, health care, transportation including aviation, infrastructure and housing. These are the infrastructure we have in the pipeline, there are many other areas as we build capacity we will explore these ares as well. These are the priority areas we will focus on. We cannot mention specific projects that we will go into right now. The Act demands that we tell you what projects but until we are about to sign the projects we cannot tell you now.

    The Nigerian infrastructure fund will focus only on Nigeria. We have done extensive work so far on some initial areas that form our initial focus, some of the areas we have assessed opportunity include housing, agriculture, power, water resources, transportation which includes ports and aviation and health care.

    Will you be charging for the use of these infrastructure?

    Of course, these are commercial infrastructure, so will charge for their use. We are investing with co investors some of them are other Sovereign Wealth funds, some are private equity investors; it’s not a charity, if you look at infrastructure funds around the world most of them earn on the average six to seven per cent. We will invest in areas where there are commercial returns.

    The Act allows us to earn commercial returns. This is a self sustaining enterprise. Our three principles are financial sustainability, independence of decision making and transparency. We will invest in areas where we will make returns that is why it is called Sovereign Wealth Fund. Other intervention programmes like the budget will be done with the budget. Here we are investors, that is the difference between what we do and what other arms of government do. Don’t forget the returns are for the Nigerian people. At the end of the day this money goes back to Nigerians, it goes back to the three tiers of government that own it.

    This fund will be managed in-house and the idea is to earn commercial returns as you know there is within the Act a sub set of the fund which should be devoted to social infrastructure. They access up to 10 per cent of the infrastructure fund which should be devoted to social infrastructure. This fund is not a grant scheme, it will also earn returns as we invest in social infrastructure which by definition includes health care, education, inland water resources and in my opinion environmental factors.

    In the build up to the establishment of this authority is the argument that it would attract other investors from outside, have you had any discussions with other Sovereign Wealth funds and what is the outlook in this regards?

    In the last six months we have spent time visiting many sovereign wealth funds. Many sovereign wealth funds as you know were my clients, I have had discussions with them and we have letters of encouragement and pledges of co investment if we show them viable ideas. What we plan to do is to become a credible vehicle for those of them who want to engage in Nigeria. It is now up to us to bring ideas and investment opportunities many people are interested to come in to Nigeria, people see the potentials everybody. The policies of the past and present are beginning to bear positive fruits. As a result, Nigeria is one of the few countries that had ratings upgrade in the last two years That’s very important because when your rating is upgraded your cost of debt goes down. People see a lot of potentials in Nigeria internationally than you can imagine. As we bring ideas that are commercially viable other people will want to come and invest with us. You also need to know that the profit’s the NSIA makes is not for profit sake but it goes to every Nigerian.

    This is an enterprise structured in the way of other Sovereign wealth funds; the idea here, as the Act has mandated us, invest prudently, earn commercial returns where possible as an organisation to contribute to development impact within the country.

    How and when will the future generation begin to benefit from the fund?

    Future generation fund is a savings fund. It is not a pension where we invest for a payout. The idea is to grow a savings base to prepare the country in the event of a depletion of our hydrocarbon resources. If you watch what is happening in other Sovereign Wealth Funds,they invest $200 million or more and years down the line the investment grows so large that it is the future generation that benefits from that investment. This is a savings funds. If this fund  makes consistent profit for five years, future generation funds will also invest in real estate infrastructure as well invest in private equity, in some cases depending on the area of investment the benefit can come sooner or come later but the purpose of this fund is the savings for the future generation of Nigerians. Like other funds, the benefits tend to come much later, at the minimum if this fund makes profit consistently for five years as we are hoping we will start to partake of the dividends to the three tiers of government. The earliest you will start to see any benefits will be through the return this savings fund will make in five years of consistent profitability before we start making repatriations of dividends to the Nigerian people. But the ideal scenario here is to grow the savings so that the same way you look at other countries with big bragging rights of funds that are big which really is the basis for their future generation to spend, that I think should be the objective.

    It takes quite a while before you commit to projects, in most countries project development takes at least 14 months and consequently a lot of work is going on here and as I have committed to you we will announce our first commitment before the year runs out. These things take time and we will be careful with the way we allocate resources in these sectors.

     

  • Fun, thrill as See Magazine repackages

    Fun, thrill as See Magazine repackages

    Hands were raised and souls lifted to God in pure praises last week at the Inspire the world benefit dinner organised by See Inspirations Magazine in Lekki Lagos.

    The dinner also featured a live concert with Asu Ekiye, Aity Dennis-Inyang and others on stage.

    Distinguished guests danced excitedly in the Lord’s presence to commemorate the second anniversary of the magazine, which has become a leading voice in the Christian community.

    There were also hilarious clean jokes from some comedians to lighten up the evening.

    Testifying to the impact of the two-year-old publication, Mrs. Comfort Ukpong described it as the “Bible of our time”.

    She said reading through stories of ordinary people whose lives God transformed has imbued her with vigour and inspiration to pursue her dreams.

    Aity stated that the magazine is a must-read for those who believe in the wondrous acts of God, saying it is not just a publication but one that stands out among the crowd.

    The publisher, Mrs. Lawretta Sam-Ogrih, said the publication is soaring because of complete dependence on God.

    The event, she said, marked the transition of the magazine to a voice to millions across the world from a soft-sell publication.

    On how she intends to survive now that the magazine has become a not-for-sale item, Sam-Ogrih said: “God who has bought us this far will sustain us.”

    She said partners and advert patronage powered by God will see the publication, through adding that it has recorded amazing testimonies of Christians across divides over the years.

    The publisher explained: “We are just in God’s hands. From the word go, He was the one that ordained this publication.

    “We believe He will bring testifiers, adverts, support and all resources we need as at when due. We are not worried but settled knowing He is in charge.”

    The senior pastor of Household of Love Church, Lekki, Lagos, Rev. Yinka Yusuf, solicited support for the publication, stating an investment in it is tantamount to investing in God’s kingdom.

  • ‘Why God is angry with Nigeria’

    God is angry with Nigeria because of the daily shedding of innocent blood across the nation, the General Overseer of Christ Crusaders’ Deliverance Ministry Akute, Ogun State, Pastor Festus Adewole, has declared.

    Adewole said the Boko Haram insurgency is another brand of blood-shedding that aggravates the anger of God against Nigerians.

    He spoke last week on the 15th anniversary of the church, which ends today.

    Asserting that God hates bloodletting, Adewole stated that the wanton destruction of lives comes with huge consequences for even the unborn generations in Nigeria.

    According to him: “President Jonathan seems to be a weak president. Many lives have been cut short; wives turned to widows and what he could only offer is a weak state of emergency.

    “If Jonathan wants to take action, he should show Nigerians he is a determined leader by taking stern actions against this insurgency and not this shameful palliative measures which the group had made clear they don’t want.”

    He lamented that Nigeria has narrow- minded leaders who amass wealth for themselves while a majority pick crumbs from the dustbins.

    On the anniversary with the theme divine acceleration, Adewole said the church has embarked on a 21-day fasting and prayer programme to save the nation.

  • ‘It’s wrong to acquire private jets with church funds’

    ‘It’s wrong to acquire private jets with church funds’

    The District Superintendent of Christ Ascension Church Nigeria, Aba, Abia State, Bishop Simeon Nwachukwu, bares his mind on national issues in a chat with Sunny Nwankwo

    What is the stand of your church on same sex marriage?

    The stand of my church is very clear because the Bible says that God created them male and female. After this, God said, “it is not good that a man should live alone. I will create him a helpmate; a helper that is suitable for him.”

    So the Bible said that a deep sleep fell upon Adam and the Lord took one of his ribs and closed the place thereof. And of that rib, God formed a woman.

    He blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.” So, I do not know how a man and his fellow man or a woman and a fellow woman shall be fruitful and replenish the earth.

    Christ Ascension Church in particular will never speak for gay or same sex marriage in Nigeria and anywhere in the world.

    Won’t that be an infringement on the right of people to freedom of worship?

    I do not think so. The Bible does not support it (same sex). It is an aberration of African cultures and traditions. It also does not have any backing by the present constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    How serious is the problem of corruption that you mentioned?

    Corruption has eaten deep into almost all the sectors of our economy. There is no sector that is free from corruption. In Nigeria, if you steal more, you will get lesser penalties and when you steal less, they will give you a heavier penalty. It is like governments at both the federal and state levels are paying lip service to the fight against corruption.

    Corruption is done with impunity. People no longer fear the consequences of their actions as it was the case in the past when civil servants were regarded as the most honest people. People have sold out their consciences.

    Majority of corrupt individuals are proudly walking freely on our streets today after they must have bought their freedom with part of the money they stole while in office.

    The unfortunate thing is that, after these individuals had committed all kinds of atrocities while in office, various religious institutions, communities and different society groups’ end up giving them special recognition(s). Maybe such people donated part of the money they stole to them or they want to share part of the ‘national cake’ with them.

    It has come to a point where Ministers of God and other religious leaders should question their members’ source of wealth. We see so many fraudsters, ritualists, armed robbers, etc coming to give huge donations in the church. It is not biblical for the church of God to be built with blood money.

    How do you react to the flamboyant lifestyles among some preachers in Nigeria?

    Well, my reaction is that some of those preachers who buy jets, establish universities where students pay N400, 000 to N1 million per session are not helping their parishioners.

    For instance, schools built by these churches were money made from donations, offerings and tithes members of the church donated for the progress of God’s work. Some of the members gave their “widow’s mite”. Some went as much as borrowing to help the church complete their projects.

    Building of schools by churches should be a social service the church will render for indigent members. I am not conversant with aviation laws in Nigeria but I understand that the parking space for jets is N10, 000 per day. It means that an average preacher that has a jet pays N3, 650, 000 in a year. I am sure that if you go round those churches, there are still thousands of widows, widowers and orphans who struggle to eat 3 square meals in a day.

    If God has given us money, let us use it to better the lots of those rural dwellers who live under a very terrible condition of poverty and penury.

    I still believe that those money that were used in the acquisition of jets and living flamboyantly can still be used in opening worship centres where people can come and find Christ and also find rest. That is what I can say about that.

    How can Nigeria overcome restiveness and insurgency?

    The answer is very simple. Let the federal and state governments encourage private individuals to open up more industries. They should provide job opportunities for our teeming youths to reduce youth unemployment in the country.

    It is said that an idle mind is a devil’s workshop. It takes someone who is godly to stay a year or seven years without a job. If the person is not consciously engaged in doing something, he may be corruptly engaged in pipeline vandalism, cultism, kidnapping, ritualism and all that.

    Over a million admission seekers wrote JAMB some weeks ago and in the next five years, they will be off loaded into the saturated labour market, thereby increasing the number of job seekers.

    It is unfortunate that most youth empowerment schemes floated by the federal and state government have been hijacked by corrupt individuals.

    So, let federal and state government in all sincerity of purpose, do something to address the issue of unemployment in Nigeria. That will go a long way to curb youth restiveness in Nigeria.

     

  • RCCG spends N433 million on community projects

    RCCG spends N433 million on community projects

    The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) has spent N433million on community projects across the nation in the first quarter of 2013.

    The General Overseer of the church, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, disclosed this while presenting report of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities last week.

    He said the projects were spread over 353 communities in 255 local governments of the nation.

    Adeboye informed the projects included construction of free community schools, provision of free potable water, scholarship for indigent students and patrol vans for police stations, among several others.

    Speaking through his Special Assistant on Personnel and Administration, Pastor Johnson Odesola, Adeboye said: “We want to do more as we have a mandate to spend N2billion on various community projects in 2013 that will meet the growing needs and aspiration of the people in all the 774 local government areas in Nigeria.”

    Restating the commitment of the church to carrying out more developmental projects throughout the country, he said the projects were carried out after comprehensive needs assessment in the benefitting communities.

    He assured of the church’s determination to complement efforts of the government in alleviating poverty through provision of health care facilities and other developmental projects for national growth and stability.

    The church, Adeboye informed, is committed to providing basic necessities because poverty does not discriminate.

    According to him, a real church will impact its immediate environment through the provision of developmental projects in line with the mandate of Christ.

  • Pastor Akande passes on

    Pastor Akande passes on

    Pastor (Mrs.) Oyin Akande, the wife of Pastor Debo Akande, the Pastor-in-Charge of Lagos Province 25 of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, has passed on to glory.

    The burial ceremonies of late Pastor Mrs. Akande, who died in the United States of America, have already commenced.

    Before the final interment in Lagos on May 31, 2013, some week-long evangelical services will hold at the Redemption Camp, ACME, Ogba and finally at Lagos Province 25 headquarters, Gateway Cathedral, Ahmadiyya Bus Stop, Abeokuta Express road

    She is survived by her husband, Pastor Debo Akande, children, her father and mother, siblings and numerous spiritual children, brothers and sisters.

  • PFN supports emergency rule

    •Demands compensations for Boko Haram victims

    The declaration of emergency rule in the north eastern states of Adamawa, Yobe and Borno, has received the full-backing of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN).

    It said the President was right to have acted to halt the orgy of violence and terrorism in the nation with the declaration.

    The National President of the body, Rev Dr Felix Omobude, told reporters in Lagos that the President deserves full commendation for the declaration.

    Omobude, however, appealed to troops drafted to the affected states to flush out the terrorists “within the ambits of the law and respect for fundamental human rights.”

    He said: “It is important that the exercise is conducted with clinical precision to avoid incidents of collateral damage and minimal disruption of normal life.”

    While urging Nigerians to support the troops in its assignment, the PFN helmsman cautioned politicians to be circumspect in their utterances.

    Omobude also reiterated the demands for compensations for victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.

    He argued: “It is important that houses and buildings that belong to religious institutions, schools, individuals and corporate bodies be built and given back to their owners who have suffered unnecessarily for the state of insecurity.”

    The cleric said the body will be willing to present comprehensive documentations and evidence backing such claims should the government be interested.

    On the direction of the new leadership, he said all state chapters have been mandated to build a “rebranded PFN” through internal appraisals.

    He urged Christians to maintain peace while being alert and vigilant.

  • Church conducts free medical fair

    Hundreds of people have benefitted from a medical fair organised by the Global Harvest Church Lagos.

    It held at Shoprite Ikeja with many granted free medical consultation and treatment.

    The associate pastor, Gbenga Anfela, said: “Most people do not know their health status and recently you found that a lot of people just dropped dead.

    “This prompted the church to help save lives and support what government and other individuals have been doing.

    “This is our inaugural fair and we hope to do more of this. Our next fair would be on breast and cervical cancer.”

    Anfela advised youths to embrace mentorship.

    He said: “When you have a mentor in a particular field, your errors are reduced.”

    Global Harvest Church mission is to help individuals discover and accomplish their God-given purpose through life-transforming experiences with Christ.

    The church has held many outreaches including the Shop 4free programme during the Easter celebration where about 5000 people were fed, clothed and treated free of charge.