Archbishop Joseph Ojo, the founder and General Overseer of Calvary Kingdom Church, Lagos, lends a voice of support to the persistent calls in some quarters for restructuring of Nigeria, explaining that restructuring does not mean dissolution. He spoke with Salau Seyi John. Excerpts:
Could you tell us about your ministry?
I have been in the ministry since 1972. Wonderfully, it’s been 14 years since this ministry began in 2002, June 2nd to be precise. God has been very faithful. We have enjoyed God’s faithfulness and God’s provision and we’re still believing Him for greater things. We are not complete yet but when you look at these infrastructures, you’ll know that God has been faithful to us.
The church has a weekly programme called “Holy Ghost Hour”. What’s it about?
Yes, every Wednesday. I have ministers apart from me who are in charge of that. It is a prayer time when people who have some real spiritual challenges come for prayers. Some who are in need of deliverance are ministered to and God sets them free, and whom the son of man sets free is free indeed. It’s a time of liberation, it’s a time of prayer, and it’s a time of people receiving deliverance and testifying to God’s power.
What is the role of the church in nation building?
The role of the church in nation building begins by fulfilling our part scripturally: to pray for those who are in authority. God’s word says, “With prayers and giving of thanks through intercession for those who are in authority and for all men”; that’s our initial role. Secondly, our role is to teach people how to be not only faithful to God but also patriotic. No patriotic Nigerian would want to see things go out of hand; they would want to see that things are done according to how it should be done. The role of the ministers is also to teach some ethics. Just as every profession has its ethics, the Christian (ministerial) profession also has ethics and we should be able to teach our people how to do those things that will keep us united and abhor those things that divide us. Some of us still believe that Nigeria will work irrespective of whoever is the president today. It’s a project all of us believe in and, hopefully, this country will work.
Looking at Nigeria today, the one topic on the lips of everyone is recession. Do you see any hope for Nigeria?
As I said earlier, I think there is hope, even though it may not be immediate. I also think the president or the executive arm of government needs to be courageous enough to put certain pegs in the hole they fit. Some of the ministers we have seem to have run out of ideas, they don’t know what to do, and they cannot courageously say I’ve run out of ideas. The president has to maybe go into the marketplace or workshop and get technical people that can replace them and turn this economy around. It is surprising that under two years after the last administration things have gone haywire. They say they are recovering money, they should plough it back for God’s sake and save the economy; and they should be bold enough (maybe humble enough is the right word) to borrow wisdom from Jonathan and some of his ministers who made these things work.
Some persons in the country are calling for the restructuring of Nigeria. What’s your stand on this?
Restructuring depends on people’s understanding. Restructuring is not dissolution or division of the country. Some think by restructuring we are saying North go to North; even the so-called Northern elite don’t understand it. Restructuring is not proposing dissolution of the country called Nigeria, it’s not division. It’s saying, let’s restructure, let’s reduce the power in the centre, let’s devolve those powers to the states and, as it is in the United States of America and some other civilized democracies, let the states take care of their resources. There is nothing bad or evil about it. What a state produces, a percentage is sent to the centre for the centre to be able to run. Part of the restructuring is that there should be state police as it is everywhere, but because of their political inclination, they say, ‘No, if there is a state police, the state governor will use it to fight. No, let’s forget about that.’ When we restructure there should be a state police; the only thing the state can’t have is army. In the US, you have FBI and NYPD (New York Police Department), but all the states have their police. Number one, it will create jobs for our teeming youths; number two, it will help us to understand that power does not reside solely on somebody called president. We believe in one Nigeria but we also believe in restructuring. We’ve been in this room called Nigeria for long, let’s restructure it so that it can work; that is my understanding of restructuring.
Different rights groups are coming up every day demanding one thing or the other. How should the government handle the agitations of these rights groups?
That is what I am saying, we don’t seem to understand them; they are not saying they want to go. Once this country is restructured, all those rights groups will stop. All the agitations will stop if somebody sits down and says, ‘Enough is enough! Why are we deceiving ourselves? Let’s have peace, let’s restructure; how to do it should then be the issue. Everybody wants to be here in Nigeria; I want to freely go to Kano, I have friends and brothers in Kano, I go to Kano for programmes. Everybody wants to go to Calabar, I have friends there, I don’t want to be locked up in Lagos or look for visa to go to Port-Harcourt or Jos. No, we are one Nigeria, but let’s restructure. By the time we restructure, the issue of corruption will die down because it’s the money they think is in the centre that is making everybody want to die there. When we restructure, let’s see how many people will want to be senators if senators’ pay is pegged at less than what a commissioner or permanent secretary gets?
People say the future belongs to the youth; when is that future for the Nigerian youth?
It’s deception. The now belongs to the youths, not the future. For this country to have a breakaway from the past, they should not put age limit to any office. It is the same thing that has affected very many Nigerians; they go through their lives, they never have cognate experience in any meaningful place of work because you graduated and four, five years after, no job. By the time you apply for one, they say 10 years experience; how do they expect you to get the experience? They should allow people to garner that experience they are clamouring for from the scratch. It is painful to see somebody, say, with B.A. Economics, seeking for a job. Don’t ask for experience because this economy has never helped any young man to garner experience, and because of that they are making people to go and forge some documents. So, I believe the now belongs to the youth, not the future.
Finally, if you are asked to make one request for Nigeria, what would that request be?
That request will be to restructure. Let Buhari write his name on the sands of time; let it be said that it was during his time that what others couldn’t do was done; let it not be said that it was during his time that Nigeria fought the second civil war, and restructuring can do all that. If after restructuring people are still agitating, then we know the wicked are involved and have other things in mind. The truth of the matter is restructuring will favour everybody. Let me explain: if you go to the East, where I visit often, or South-South where I come from, you will agree that if Biafra secedes, within one year they will have problem of accommodation; it’s so small. So it’s better we are one; all we are asking for is restructuring. The landmass in some of these areas is too small and if that happens and the policy of the other areas doesn’t favour them, there will be wahala. Come to think of it, what will we gain by restructuring compared to we will lose? I think what we will gain far outweighs what we will lose. So, if there is one thing I will ask for Nigeria, it is restructuring and nothing else. John Kerry, American secretary of state, came here the other day. If he was wise these are the things he would have suggested, but they are not calling for it.
You know Texas, the highest oil producing state, is the richest in America. They should allow such a thing to work in Nigeria; they should not be envying people for what God has blessed them with because tomorrow nobody knows what you are going to get in your own place. So, my wish for Nigeria is restructuring and peace.
Salau Seyi John
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