William Kumuyi, the general superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, has called on Nigerians to embrace honesty, transparency and accountability necessary in building a better society.
The cleric also admonished the citizenry to shun bribery and corruption, saying that the two vices can destroy a nation. He made the call on Sunday in Port Harcourt during a Global Men’s Conference organised by the Change Makers International.
Kumuyi said that a positive change maker had rewards and protection from God, which no man could stop.
“There is a purpose in a man’s life and nobody can silence it.
“Purpose of heart, we must know what we are doing and why we are doing it because there is a prize to pay at the end.
“A change maker has a purpose and mission to achieve positive growth in his family, community, his workplace and country.
“A change maker is a model, he has priority and virtue, he has proficiency and visibility as a change mentor as seen in Daniel 5:8.
“Change is the right direction for our country, Nigeria, now. We have to focus on being a change model for our communities; otherwise, society will collapse.
“Let us say in our local churches, our mosques and our communities that we must stand against corruption, God will deliver us like he delivered Daniel in the lion’s den,” he said.
The clergyman further said that the change the country needs is against corruption, embezzlement, bad governance, pollution, wrongdoing as well as darkness and evil in society.
“If anybody in position thinks he is rich, offers you money to support corruption or evil, do not compromise, rather say no to that offer, tell them you are a change maker.
“If you want to be a change maker, you must not dance the music of corruption, rather, be on the side of God because God is higher than that corrupt man or woman.
“So, refuse corruption or evil-doing and God will protect you from their arrows and persecutions.
“Criticism should not move us, rather we have to keep moving, knowing that we are in the hand of God and they cannot destroy us.
“As proficiency and visibility of a change mentor, we should look at the future, we should not be the ones to kill our dreams.
“If we kill our dreams, we will not succeed but anyone that wants to kill our dreams cannot as long as we have not killed our own dreams because dreamers do not die.
“The dream of a changed nation is hanging on us, so we must make sure we achieve the change as a country,” Kumuyi said.
Earlier, Ibraham Suberu, a lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, who spoke on “handing down sound legacies and values to the upcoming generation,” said that things had fallen apart in the country.
Suberu, who teaches in the Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, also said: “The conference is directed to humans, so Nigerians can see that they are directly spoken to for a change.
“Legacies are good values parents and society should leave behind for their children and family members, amongst others, but not dubious legacies.
“We have moral decadence; we have distrust, family disunity, greed, selfishness and valueless legacies.
“This is why Prophet Mohammed in the Qur’an said that a time will come when killers will be asked why they killed.
“If parents don’t impart the culture from our forefathers in our children, they will not have values and legacies to pass on to their generation.”
He urged parents to strengthen family units and be role models to their children.
“Let them honour the value of families, let your children discuss the ethical values with you as their parents, there should be inter-generational bonding, bond your children with their grandparents and elders,” he said.
