The Nation Newspaper

Tag: well

  • A life well spent

    A life well spent

    The remains of Deaconess Alice Ajoke Olanrewaju, mother of Oluwasesan Olanrewaju, former Special Adviser on Environment to Lagos State governor, were interred penultimate Friday at Atan Cemetery in Yaba, after a funeral service at the United African Methodist Church (UAMC), Ebute-Meta. OLATUNDE ODEBIYI reports.

    It was a celebration of life well spent. The funeral of Mrs Alice Ajoke Olanrewaju was celebrated by her children led by Oluwasesan Olanrewaju, former special Adviser on Environment to Lagos State government. Deaconess Olanrewaju died last November 25. She was 98.

    Some of the guests, who came to pay their respects, wore the uniformed Ankara fabric with orange head gear for the occasion, while others looked gorgeous in their choice outfits.

    The funeral service held at the United African Methodist Church (UAMC) in Ebute-Meta, Lagos State and the church auditorium with its gallery were filled to the brim. Many, who came late, sat outside the church.

    The officiating priest, Bishop of Mainland, UAMC, Rt. Rev Matthew Olakitan began the service by asking the congregation to stand while other priests proceeded to the church’s entrance to usher in the remains of the late Deaconess Olanrewaju.

    Doja Funeral Home, Pall bearers, brought in the late Deaconess’remains in a brown casket which was followed by the priests as they went to the altar amid the rendition of ‘For all the saints, who from their labour rest’, hymn. Family members followed the procession.

    The choir later led the hymn ‘God moves in mysterious ways’ and Rt. Rev Joseph Adedayo of UAMC, Oke-Aarin, took the lesson from Book of Psalm, Chapter 90, verses 1-17.

    In his sermon, Rt. Rev Matthew Ayinde of UAMC Ebute-Meta, said the gathering was to celebrate a good soul, which was the reason her children were dancing and rejoicing.

    He prayed that the children will live well as their mother did.

    He said: “Mama served God well and God will give the children the grace to also serve him well.

    He read from 1Kings, Chapter 2, verses 2 to 3.

    He told the congregation that they would also die someday either rich or poor.

    “You must consider where you are going to spend your eternity. If Jesus comes today to take us, where will you go? Change your ways and follow God,” he said.

    After the service, some of the guests moved to Atan Cemetery in Yaba, Lagos where Deaconess Olanrewaju’s remains were interred around 2:22pm.

    The congregation and guests later moved to Federal College of Education, Akoka, Lagos, for the reception.

    The hall and the additional tents were decorated in Orange and White, and they were filled to capacity.

    Virtually all the children and the grand children did not sit down throughout the reception.They were moving round tables attending to guests.

    Oluwasesan, son of the deceased, said his mother was everything to him when she was alive.

    “Mama was caring and loved all her children, grand children and great grand children. She did a lot for us and we really thank God for her. She rallied round everybody even to the detriment of her own well being. She took care of all,” he said.

    He added: “My most memorable moment with her was when I was in school and she will give me lots of food stuff. She even did same for my children when they were going abroad to further their studies.”

    The daughter of the deceased, Mrs Olufunmilayo Labiran, a retired Nurse from the University Teaching Hospital (UCH), Oyo State, described her mother as a disciplinarian.

    Referring to her late mother using the present tense, she said: “She is generous and a good giver. She gives to everybody even at her own detriment. I will miss her prayers. “

    The late Deaconess Olanrewaju’s granddaughter, Yewande Olanrewaju, described her grandmother as wonderful, one in a million woman, who would not discriminate.

    “Grandma has been supportive since my father, Pa Emmanuel Olakunle Olanrewaju died,” she said.

    Obanikoro of Lagos, Oloye Adesiji Ajayi Bembe, who graced the occasion, said the deceased late husband was his uncle. He said the late Deaconess was a good mother who loved all without discrimination.

    The Ojora of Lagos, Oloye Nurudeen Olubiyi Agoro, said the deceased was a nice woman and worthy of emulation. “She served God to her last moment,” he said.

    Special Adviser to Governor Fashola on Education, Otunba Fatai Olukoga, said the deceased loved children and was kind to all. He said she had a good heart and did well for her children and everybody around her.

  • Not well-thought-out

    •INEC’s suspension of action on additional polling units suggests defective structure

    As suddenly as it announced the decision to create additional polling units in all parts of the country, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has opted to suspend the decision. The commission, while not ruling out revisiting and giving effect to the matter, said the units would be warehoused until the next general elections would have been conducted.

    The very controversial creation of the units provoked national outcry. While some Nigerians were suspicious of the motive behind the decision, others kicked over alleged lopsidedness of the distribution of the units. The loudest protest came from the South East that got only about 1,167 units to the 1,200 allocated to the sparsely populated Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The North West was allocated almost 7,906 units while 8,414 were allotted to the three zones of the South.

    The North, including the FCT got 20,715 new polling units. The commission explained that it took the action to make units more manageable in the forthcoming elections; claiming also that apart from the number on roll, distance played a major factor in distributing the new units. But, disbelieving voters in the South have argued that the distribution was designed to favour a region and reinforced a supposedly false assumption that the North is more populous than the South, arguing that Nigeria is the only country where the savannah region is deemed more populous than the rain forest region.

    Beyond claiming that the creation of the units was purely based on scientific parameters, the electoral commission has failed to satisfactorily respond to the queries about the distribution. Officials responsible for interfacing with the public on INEC’s activities were sorry sights when put through grilling questions on that matter by journalists, thus suggesting that they were either as ignorant of the underlying rationale or as unconvinced as the general public.

    News filtering out of the commission and published by the media were not helpful either. There were reports that its internal decision-making mechanism had become defective, fractured along North-South lines. This is bad news for a country that has desperately looked forward to the conduct of credible general elections that meet up international standards.

    We call on the commission to quickly put its house in order if it is to engender the confidence of all Nigerians. The idea of announcing such a major decision and then reversing it based on public outcry is an indication that INEC lacked conviction and was not sufficiently rigorous in considering the pros and cons of the matter. The commission, headed by a professor of political science and comprising experienced public servants ought to have subjected the matter to extensive debate before the final decision was taken and announced.

    The commission and other sensitive public bodies also need to incorporate consultation with critical stakeholders into the processing of such national issues. Bowing to public pressure after running into a storm is the consequence of putting the cart before the horse. In a democracy, it is trite that the will of the people is supreme, and in electoral matters, the national interest should drown all others.

    How INEC would upturn the suspicion generated by the poorly handled exercise remains to be seen. The commission has a duty to assist in pulling down strongholds that have held down Nigeria over the years. It has a responsibility to help in dissolving age-long distrusts, rivalries and unhealthy competitions that have largely accounted for the disharmony in the country’s public life. In the run-up to the next general elections, the commission has a duty to allay fears that it has been ‘captured’ to pursue narrow rather than the general interest.

  • Ujah: Pre-season going well

    Ujah: Pre-season going well

    With his first stint in the German Bundesliga failing to tick the right boxes, Cologne’s Anthony Ujah has a lot to prove when he returns to the championship this term.

    Mainz paid silly money, in Norwegian currency, to acquire him from Lillestrom in the summer of 2011 for a transfer fee believed to be worth around 3 million Euros including performance related incentives.

    But due to his lack of first team chances at the Coface Arena, the following season, he was farmed out on loan to  Bundesliga club Cologne, where he got his groove back.

    ”Preseason is going good. We are on our second phase of training camp in Austria right now. I got a slight knock but I am back fully to training.

    ”My expectations are nothing than helping my club to stay in the league at the end of the season as this is the target of every promoted team.

    ”If we achieve this, then we can set bigger targets in the coming seasons but first one at a time,” Anthony Ujah told SL10.ng.

    Cologne have been active in the transfer market in the close season, signing Japan international striker Yuya Osako from 1860 Munich.

    The former Lillestrom sensation is aware that competition for a first team shirt will be intense when the league resumes, unlike the previous two seasons, where he averaged 27 starts in the second – tier.

    ”It’s normal to have strong competitions at higher level as we are now. It’s going to be a long season so competition is healthy for the team,” the 23-year-old added.

    Cologne will welcome Hamburg to the RheinEnergie Stadion on August 23 in their opening match of the 2014-2015 campaign.

  • Brazil 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP: Oboabona: we’ll redeem our image

    Brazil 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP: Oboabona: we’ll redeem our image

    Super Eagles centre-back Godfrey Oboabona has declared that the players will seek to redeem the team’s image in subsequent matches, especially at the World Cup next year.

    The Sunshine Stars of Akure captain said the coach Stephen Keshi-tutored team will get better starting with the World Cup qualification match against the Flames of Malawi in September.

    The highly rated defender has remained the Eagles’ most consistent player since the last Nations Cup in South Africa and has justified being given a chance in the team despite being a local league player.

    “Nobody is happy with us, because we could not meet up with the expectation of Nigerians. But that is football, you win some, you lose some,” said Oboabona in a telephone chat.

    He continued: “We will get better as a team. We have known our mistakes and we intend to work hard to rectify them.

    “We can’t continue to disappoint our supporters and that is the reason why we will be ready to redeem our image in subsequent matches for the country.

    “We can only apologise for our wrongdoing but we are still a team to be reckoned with any time.”

  • Is all well with the house of NANS?(2)

    I ended last week’s piece with the petition to President Goodluck Jonathan by Adelu James who contested the post of president of NANS with eleven other contenders. James raised some pertinent issues in the melodrama currently plaguing the association. After reading last week’s piece, Prince Miaphen, one of the contenders who identified himself as the authentic student representative and president of NANS sent me two documents, a statement recounting what transpired at Uyo last year and text of the maiden press conference he granted after being sworn in as president of NANS in Jos on January 13. I will return to the issue of Miaphen and the allegation of attempted assassination leveled against him by Yinka Gbadebo later.

    But in the interim, was Gbadebo eligible to contest the election in the first place? I pose this question because Adelu James, a 500 level Law student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife claimed he is “the sole ticket of the institution to contest at Uyo convention. But it is a big surprise to me and a slap to all Nigerian students that, Mr. Yinka Gbadebo who is not a student of Obafemi Awolowo University could be allowed by the convention planning committee, the convention chairman and the State Security Service to contest the election with the studentship of Obafemi Awolowo University”. If this was the case then the next question that will arise is who was the authentic representative from OAU?

    In order to answer this question we have to rewind a few years back and put things in perspective. Gbadebo was alleged – by all the presidential candidates – to have physically assaulted the former Vice-Chancellor of University of Ado Ekiti now Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Prof. Akin Oyebode now at the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, an offence which led to his rustication from the university. With his result still hanging in Ekiti State University, he allegedly enrolled for a Diploma programme in OAU which apparently led to his eligibility to contest the election.

    Yinka Gbadebo, however, debunked insinuations that he applied for an OAU diploma in order to be eligible to contest NANS presidency. According to him, he “came to OAU to obtain more knowledge after waiting so long for UNAD to release my result all to no avail based on political reasons that are interwoven with my active participation in students’ unionism.”

    He stressed that “rumour peddlers” are ignorant of the content of NANS constitution, adding that the constitution states clearly that to be eligible for presidential election, a candidate must be studying a course of not less than two years duration in any institution of higher learning. “Most of them have never seen NANS constitution and charter of demands in their life and they want to aspire.”

    From this it is not surprising that it has been conflicts on all fronts. In February during a visit to Jos another drama played out. After the Uyo convention, Gbadebo and his executives took it upon themselves to go on fence mending tours of university campuses across the country, that tour brought them to Jos on February 7th where he alleged that an assassination attempt was made on his life. Let’s hear him out: “In our bid to defend the mandate that Nigerian students gave to us at the polls, we decided to embark on a tour of our campuses to familiarise ourselves with the problems facing our students. This tour brought us to Jos on Wednesday, 6th February 2013. Scared of the imminent truth that his fraudulent activities would be revealed to the people of Plateau State who he had earlier hoodwinked into believing his self-acclaimed presidency of NANS, Prince Miaphen sent a group of assassins after me and my entourage on Thursday 7th February 2013”.

    He alleged that the assassins who came armed with guns and machetes ended up kidnapping one of his colleagues, Dimeji Azeez of the University of Ibadan and “totally vandalized and destroyed the two weeks old official bus of the national secretariat of NANS. Azeez was later released after we apprehended the younger brother to Prince Miaphen who led the assault team”.

    He thus declared Prince Miaphen “persona non grata on campuses of all Nigerian institutions of higher learning. That any campus that welcomes the said Prince Miaphen will be indefinitely suspended from NANS and all NANS related activities, including the right to vote or to contest for any national office. That the Plateau State Government under the able leadership of Da Jonah Jang in collaboration with Nigeria Police Force and State Security Service should as a matter of urgency arrest and prosecute Mr. Prince Miaphen alongside his cohorts within 7days. That the Plateau State Government in other to forestall the breakdown of law and order, should with immediate effect provide the leadership of NANS with a NEW BUS AS A COMPESATION, based on the fact that Mr. Prince Miaphen is an indigene of Plateau State from Shendam Local Government Area”.

    Miaphen denied the entire allegation, according to him he was on tour of higher institution campuses in Gombe, Bauchi, Yobe and Bornu States when Gbadebo, who had information on what he was doing paid a visit to Jos. “The question I would like Gbadebo to answer is why did he not go to the campuses of University of Jos, Plateau State University or Plateau Polytechnic? He did not go there because he is an unpopular candidate that believes in grandstanding and hobnobbing with politicians. NANS headquarter is not in Abuja or the various state government houses but on University campuses.”

    Miaphen, who said he has the backing of the other contestants and Nigerian students said his intention is “to relocate the NANS Secretariat from the streets and salubrious confines of Abuja, where it has been domiciled for the better part of the last decade, back to the campuses, where it was originally designed to function. It is pertinent to state that NANS is a force with a dominant constructive component. Its impact, primarily, should be to benefit the students and managements of its respective host institutions, and by extension the entire educational system of Nigeria. This is the only way that the organisation shall muster the zest to contribute to the overall development of the country by deepening democracy, advocating for good governance, a just and egalitarian society for all, among other salient issues contained in the NANS Charter of Demands.

    What I can deduce from what Miaphen and his cohorts are trying to achieve is their determination to go back to the era of NANS of old where Universities at the time are strategic resources for the production of ideas and manpower for societal growth. Students were at the center of this as agents of change as leaders of tomorrow with strong stake in the future of the community. But today in the realm of students all you hear is cultism, fraud, exam malpractices, yahoo yahoo, prostitution etc.

    Aside NANS national leadership intellectual decline, the various structures of the union- state joint committee and students’ unions have either sold out to politicians or lack the requisite intellectual wherewithal to lead successful and genuine struggles of students. While I blame the student leaders, I must also blame the school authorities and the state in destroying the legacy of genuine students’ unionism either by buying over of student leaders or by use of naked force like police and victimisation to deal with genuine student activists.

    Dear reader, does it surprise you the way things have turned out with our “future leaders” and their association? It should not because we are all seeing ourselves in the mirror, in essence, what is unfolding is a stack reminder of our pathetic society today where our students emulate leaders who continue to regenerate itself in brazen corruption, and lack of concern for its citizens, where politics does not go beyond greed and lucre. Student leaders who are supposed to be groomed for everything noble are already in the same track with our “leaders”.

  • That Deltans may live well

    That Deltans may live well

    If governance was an Olympic sport, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State would surely be a gold medallist. Since he took over the reins in the oil rich state, he has done so many things that have brought smiles to the faces of Deltans. By virtue of his achievements, the governor has etched his name in the good books of history. He will be remembered as one of the best leaders the state ever had.

    Unlike other governors who devote all their resources to a singular sector, Uduaghan’s achievements span across various sectors that are critical to the development of the State. There is virtually any sector that has not been transformed under his administration.

    I am particularly interested in the health sector where the governor has continued to blaze the trail for other states. Perhaps because of his background as a Medical practitioner, he understands that good health is germane to the development of the society. With the avalanche of initiatives he is introducing in the health sector, Dr. Uduaghan is working to ensure that Deltans live a healthy and prosperous life. He is giving credence to the words of Mahatma Gandhi that the wealth of a nation can only be measured by the health status of its people not just with pieces of gold and silver.

    At the twilight of his first term in office, the governor initiated a free health care delivery programme for old people in the state. Some naive critics who did not share in his vision were quick to dismiss the initiative as another campaign gimmick. But the governor has proved them wrong by sustaining the scheme. As of today, free and quality healthcare is available to anyone above the age of seventy in the state.

    The mother and child healthcare programme is yet another initiative of Uduaghan’s administration that deserves commendation. Before now cases of infant and maternal mortality were rampant especially in the rural areas within the state. The governor was able to stem the tide by providing free medical services for pregnant women, nursing mothers and their babies at various locations around the state. The best thing about this initiative is its grass-root approach. Unlike what obtains before where pregnant women had to walk several miles to get treatment, the Mother and Child initiative takes the treatment to them because the centres are located in various parts of the state. Although there are still some challenges, it is obvious that there have been a significant reduction in cases of infant and maternal mortality in Delta State. We should not forget that reduction of maternal and child morbidity is one of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations. It is not for nothing that the Nigerian Medical Gynaecology and Obstetrics Association recently honoured Dr. Uduaghan with a fellowship award as a result of his laudable programmes in health care delivery. To be honest, he deserves more than that because there is no one in the history of this state that has done better than him in the health sector.

    Governor Uduaghan’s passion for a disease-free Delta is infectious. It is therefore no surprise that he has gone as far as partnering with private organisations in his effort to rid the state of various deadly diseases. In the wake of the devastating flood that ravaged some parts of the country about two months back, Delta State collaborated with Pfizer Nigeria to vaccinate about 2,000 children with Pneumococcal vaccine, PCV 13 in the Asaba, Kwale and Isoko camps for flood victims in the State.

    In a relief camp that houses various categories of people, the Pneumococcal vaccine is a proactive step that would help curtail the spread of Pneumococcal diseases that are usually common such environments. It is on record that of all the states that were affected by the flood, only Delta did such.

    It is hard to talk about Uduaghan’s strides in health without mentioning the state-of-art facility at the Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH), Oghara. With the massive investments on ground there, the governor has not only brought quality health care closer to the people, he has made Delta the envy of other states. It is a source of pride for every Deltan that our Teaching Hospital that is barely three years old successfully carried out the first knee replacement surgery in Nigeria.

    To further demonstrate his commitment to quality healthcare for Deltans, the governor recently led a team of delegates to the United State to sign a memorandum with the University of Texas.

    At a time when deaths from terminal diseases are becoming rampant, the governor is leaving no stone unturned in his bid to ensure that his people live a healthy life.

    It was heart-warming to learn that the DELSUTH and the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Centre (UTSMC), would work together to develop a centre of excellence for kidney transplant and treatment of kidney related cases. With this development, the Dialysis Centre, Laboratory, Radiology and Theatre Departments of DELSUTH will be upgraded to become centres of excellence where world-class treatment can be accessed.

    The implication of this is that Deltans and other Nigerians suffering kidney related problems can get quality treatment without going abroad since facilities for nephrology and kidney transplant will be available at DELSUTH at a cheaper rate.

    Like the governor rightly noted while signing the memorandum, the centre will boost medical tourism and enhance the internally generated revenue of the state.

    To in his usual ways of backing words with actions, the governor has promised that the next ten month will be dedicated to putting infrastructures and personnel in place for the take-off of the centre. This will no doubt create jobs for more people in the state.

    For everyone who lives or knows about health care delivery in Delta before Uduaghan’s administration, it is hard not to doff your hat for him. What he has done in that sector is highly commendable. Today, Deltans both in rural and urban parts of the state who used to throng other states for treatment of various ailments now enjoy quality healthcare without paying much.

    • Oghenerkaro, a medical Doctor writes from Warri

  • ‘Use funds well’

    The House of Representatives Committee on Communications has called for appropriate use of budgetary allocations to government agencies, ministries and departments.

    The Chairman, Oyetunde Ojo spoke yesterday at the Lagos Campus of Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Oshodi, during the inspection of ongoing projects of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

    “The National Assembly appropriates the funds. We must see what the appropriated funds have been used for because at the end of the day, Nigerians will hold us accountable.

    “Apart from being a knowledge-based institution, it is also going to take care of job creation. You can imagine how many people will be employed when completed,” the chairman said.

    NCC’s Director of Public Affairs Tony Ojobo said the project will be completed on schedule and assured that new students will be admitted in the next academic session.

     

  • Nigeria? All must be well

    Nigeria? All must be well

    For a while now, season of independence anniversary in Nigeria has hardly qualified to be moment of celebration. Rather, it’s been more of a period for frustrated citizens’ lamentation of the lost glories of a nation destined for greatness. Every year now, we have been saying the same thing just because the country’s level of rot continues to get deepened by day.

    Over the years, the recompense of the devastation of Nigeria’s opportunities and potentials has been a journey the downward way. The story has been that of a nation that ought to be going up higher but is being pulled down into the valley of miry clay by crass self-centeredness, gross corruption and inane unrighteousness. We have been experiencing increasing sophistication of crimes and criminalities at all levels.

    As times and tide are universally changing, the impact is also reflecting on the local realms. While some countries like China, India, Malaysia and Indonesia that were formerly on the same crawling level with Nigeria are now sprouting and becoming globally relevant, situations and circumstances keep declining here with light hardly gleaming at the end of the dark channel.

    The sterner stuff which Nigerians were supposedly typically made continues to wear out. Once upon a time, a classic Nigerian would confidently brag that this country is not a banana republic. The reality today would hardly compel a true patriot to stand on that platform. It is now being realized that quality could hardly emerge from unrefined heaps of dirt. The continuing emergence of unworthy leadership through making of wrong choice has transformed to the peoples’ complacency, reversing the masses to eating from dustbins.

    Today at 52, rather than addressing issues that are panacea to nation building, economic development and social progress that would impact positively on peoples’ lives, we now expend much energy contesting unproductive self-inflicted challenges that ordinarily would not have been contentious if fundamental leadership principles and procedures were followed. From the garrison politics to politics of cabals, we now contend more with tenureship and internal terrorism that are driving off meaningful investments from a rapidly declining socio-economic profile. Pains and afflictions are being prolonged simply because violence and terrorism are being overtly endorsed due to the authority’s non-punitive actions, with security machineries being overwhelmed by imposed sacred cows.

    There is hardly candour in the land anymore; morality and earnestness have diminished. To the outsider, 419 has become the second name of Nigeria. At home, corruption, treachery and leadership mediocrity are being institutionalized, glorified and rewarded above integrity, true patriotism and diligence.

    Of course, it is becoming easier to see why things are not working. Sadly, vital laws and traditional ethics of the land are being bastardized and abused with impunity. The once-cherished rule of law is being debased in progression – just as justice itself is being purchased and mortgaged.

    The militarily-imposed constitution ruling Nigeria today is far from being the true will and consensus of “we, the people.” Intended changes are not even being allowed to be the genuine will of the people. Whenever the issue of National Sovereign Conference where the country’s integrity could be restored is raised, enemies of progress will arise in pretence of love for the sustenance of unworking system.

    Yet, in all these, this is certain: today might be rough. It might only be a passage to the nation’s true greatness beyond political propaganda. This is because those God created as Nigerians cannot be bottled up forever. The potential to foam and bubble is implanted in the people. And if care is not taken, they could eventually erupt when driven to a tight corner where there seems to be no escape route. And if that is allowed to happen, automatic disruption might be the consequence.

    Few weeks ago, Gen. Alani Akinrinade (rtd) in an interview said that as much as he is for the oneness of this country, disintegration is also not impossible. About a week ago, The Redeemed Christian Church of God organized a nationwide programme and declared a national day for praise and prayer. During the session at our provincial level, a prayer point was raised for the destruction of those working for the disunity of Nigeria. I told the minister by my side of my reluctance to respond to such prayer. My motivation: if separation is the will of God for Nigeria, so be it. Afterall, the 1914 amalgamation was more with human motive to achieve colonial divide-and-rule stratagem. My mind explicated that the wipe-off of socialism and disintegration of erstwhile empires like USSR, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia has not ruined the people but has instead fortified them. Therefore, for our own country to remain one nation that will get out of its current darkness would be for the will of God to be done.

    Pretenders of nationalism might not agree, especially as long as they are promoters and beneficiaries of the nation’s malfunctions and failures. Diversion of resources meant for the good of the people to the private pockets of the few privileged few would only be hailed by the unrighteous. But the truth is that God will not be on the side of those channeling His investment into unproductive asset. Why? His word says in Proverbs 14:34 that it is only righteousness that can exalt a nation as sin will remain “a reproach to any people.”

    The unity of Nigeria could only become meaningful when visionary and committed leadership is enthroned beyond ethnic or zoning considerations that have been enthroning mediocres upon a land blessed with enormous valuable human resources. The fact is that with all the wondrous God-given potentials, lack of good leadership has been crippling the nation and rendering the people to continue to suffer in the midst of plenty.

    The journey to greatness and fulfillment might be long. But as long as God is still in control, with His people intervening, all will surely turn well as the nation will still reach the destined height. The times may be tough and rough, the main consolation one cannot discountenance is the verity that hardship in the land is turning more Nigerians to God. And if only for the sake of the grace over the few righteous Nigerians, the lost glories of the nation is bound to resurface to shine again.

    It does not matter whether we admit or not, only those who surrender their lives to their maker will fulfill the purpose of their existence here on earth. The unrighteous that are wickedly and immorally draining the goodness of the land persistently and appears to be shining now will end the same way Biblical Pharaoh got drowned because it is only the blessing of God that will not be accompanied with sorrow.

    Let those who smuggled their ways to leadership position see their lifting as a result of grace and not through qualification by their own power or wisdom. Let them also know that the grace which one is not qualified for can only abound when one is living in uprightness and dedication to responsibility granted by opportunity.

    A determined leader need not wait to depend on the people instead of focusing on the Almighty who promotes and enthrones. Hence, instead of passing blames of failure on opposition, a serious administration must be ready to carry the cans and be devoted to serving the people. Concentrating on issues that divert would only expand diversion and lead to further downturn.

    The same way my revered General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye prayed in the popular ringtone, I align and proclaim on this occasion of solemn flag independence celebration that “Nigeria, evil men shall never rule you again.” May God implant His fear in the heart of those in authority today and grant them wisdom for genuine transformation of this beleaguered nation.