A report by the World Bank suggests that Nigeria’s unemployment crisis in recent times is the worst in the nation’s history.
The report, which raised an alarm over the nation’s rising unemployment situation was published by the World Bank with support from the Korea World Bank Partnership Facility (KWPF) and the Rapid Social Response (RSR) trust funds.
According to the research paper, the nation’s expanding working-age population combined with scarce domestic employment opportunities is creating high rates of unemployment, particularly for youth.
Between 2010 and 2020, the unemployment rate rose five-fold, from 6.4 percent in 2010 to 33.3 percent in 2020.
“The rise in unemployment rates has been particularly acute since the 2015- 2016 economic recession and has further worsened as COVID-19 led to the worst recession in four decades in 2020” the paper read in part.
The unemployment rate is defined nationally as the percentage of the labour force population who could not find at least 20 hours of work in the reference period, which the paper says was significantly higher for youth (42.5 per cent) compared to non-youth (26.3 per cent).
It was also discovered that women are particularly vulnerable in Nigeria’s labor market. “Compared to 46.4 percent of the male population who are fully employed, only 40.6 percent of women are fully employed”.
The share of fully employed came up significantly lower in rural areas compared to urban areas.
It was the viewpoint of the World Bank Report that the socio-economic challenges facing Nigerians in the last 10 years have led to a tremendous increase in the number of citizens seeking asylum and refugee status in other countries.
According to the Washington-based institution, the number of international migrants from Nigeria has increased threefold since 1990, growing from 446,806 in 1990 to 1,438,331 in 2019
Despite this trend, the share of international migrants as a proportion to Nigeria’s population has remained largely constant, increased slightly from 0.5 per cent in 1990 to 0.7 per cent in 2019.
In the report titled: ‘Of Roads Less Travelled: Assessing the Potential for Migration to Provide Overseas Jobs for Nigeria’s Youth’, the World Bank further estimated that there were 2.1 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria in 2020 alone.
The recent rise in irregular migration notwithstanding, the share of international migrants in Nigeria’s population was much lower compared to the shares in Sub-Saharan Africa and globally.
The World Bank while noting that key sectoral documents such as the National Labor Migration Policy (2014) and National Employment Policy (2017) offer suitable suggestions to leverage managed migration for providing overseas employment opportunities to Nigerian youth, the issue of migration is absent or less salient in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP 2017–2020).
“With Nigeria receiving more than US$25 billion in remittances in 2019, the absence of migration as a mainstream development tool to provide jobs to the bulging youth population is perplexing,” the transcripts stressed.
Adding that “the drafting of the new ERGP provides a good opportunity for labor migration to be mainstreamed as one of the key strategies to generate employment for Nigerian job seekers”.
The apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has stated that the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, will mark the end of violent agitations in the South-East.
This was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the group’s General Secretary.
Ohanaeze said Kanu’s arrest will serve as a deterrent to others, warning that self-determination should not be used to garner wealth.
The group also noted that Kanu’s refusal to adhere to the advice of leaders and elders in the South-East is responsible for his misfortune.
The statement read, “Ohanaeze Ndigbo calls for calm and cautions Igbos to desist from any form of protests and processions that will bring more catastrophe for Southeastern Nigeria.
“The re-arrest of Nnamdi Kanu the leader of IPOB is the beginning of the end of violent agitations in southeastern Nigeria and a lesson to others that deviation from the nonviolent agitations contradicts what Igbos are known for, and self-determination should not be used for purposes of fortune and fame-seeking.
“Nnamdi Kanu’s refusal to adhere to the advice of Igbo leaders, elders, and political leaders is the outcome of what had befallen him. He made a lot of enemies, especially those that would have saved him and Federal Government will never loosen its grip on him again. We don’t think that any Igbo leader will stick out his/her neck for him, his re-arrest will eventually bring peace and stability to the region and avert another civil war that was raging on.”
The group urged the Nigerian government to handle the situation carefully to prevent violent revolts because of Kanu’s many followers.
It added that “his trial should be strictly based on the laws of the land. They shouldn’t kill him because it will destabilise the entire country.”
I have always maintained that apart from conspiracy from both local and foreign scene against president Goodluck Jonathan, another major reason the Otueke-born Zoologist lost his 2015 presidential re-election bid was not unconnected with the fact that he had one of the most criminally inept and fantastically clueless media aides who were more endowed in tongue than they were in that area meant to house the grey matter known as the brain.
Reno Omokri’s recent tirade against Ndigbo confirms this.
An Igbo man and the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, reportedly granted an interview in 2014 where he said that Jonathan was weak and incompetent as president and the best way Reno Omokri who was GEJ’s social media advisor could think to couter the assertion in 2017 was to start hauling invectives at the entire Igbos and listing individual appointments Jonathan gave to them.
In 21st century 2017, a supposed intellectual is listing individual appointments as achievements and even trying to use same to counter the argument that his ex boss was incompetent while in office.
He couldn’t mention one monument erected by his boss. He couldn’t mention road network or any health or academic centre built for Ndigbo by his boss. All he could point to was individual appointments.
This is a walking shame!
Quite frankly, I should simply pause here and die laughing…. Laughing at a mentally truncated media aide who doesn’t know that the best way to counter allegation of incompetence against his boss is by listing infrastructural facilities and other solid achievements built by this boss of his, not by naming individuals who were appointed into govt positions by him.
With this kind of mental miscarriage from Reno Omokri, do we still wonder why the APC propaganda machinery effortlessly swallowed Jonathan’s media team and successfully painted him as a president who did nothing all through the 5 years he was in office?
If Mr Omokri cannot marshall out facts and figures to counter a mere allegation of weakness and incompetence levelled against his boss by an individual, how could anyone expect him to have any reasonable response to the web of earthquakic lies and brain-resetting propaganda mounted against Jonathan by the very powerful APC lying machine??
Poor Jonathan! He thought he had a media aide in Reno. How wrong he was!
The tragedy of Reno’s situation is that he does not even realise that his failure to list Jonathan’s achievements leaves observers with the conclusion that indeed, Jonathan did nothing for Ndigbo.
In this case, who really insulted Jonathan? Is it a private citizen who said his ex president was weak and incompetent, the same thing that has been said by Asari Dokubo, Edwin Clark etc or a former media aide to this president who resorted to hauling invectives at everyone rather than listing the achievements of this president to counter this assertion???
In an article titled, “THE LESSON NDIGBO TAUGHT JONATHAN AND FUTURE LEADERS”, Omokri stated that Igbos lost the 1967-70 Biafra because they knew nothing about diplomacy which left them without much friends to help them during those trying time. According to him, the fact that no Igbo leader has come out to attack Kanu over the said interview suggests that Kanu’s position represents the views of the entire Ndigbo about Jonathan. This, he says, means that the Igbos are ungrateful bunch. In that same article, Mr Omokri categorically stated that Jonathan was the first president to give Igbos the position of Chief of army staff and Secretary to the govt of the federation and as such, Ndigbo should be eternally grateful to him.
As a full blooded Igbo man, I find this criminally offensive. This is a double barreled insult to Ndigbo because 1, what was said is a grave misrepresentation of fact. And 2, because Mr Omokri is the least qualified person to say those things, having himself been implicated in a case of identity theft in Feb. 2014 when he allegedly stole the identity of the son to the wife of his brother-in-law, one U.S based Wendell Simlin, to write an article linking the spike in boko haram bombing to the suspension of the then CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. (A quick Google search will give you the detail)
What moral right does a spineless faceless suspected identity thief have to talk to Ndigbo? If he was man enough, why did he resort to hiding behind a fake identity just to make a mere accusation?
Let’s treat the no1:
Igbos owe Jonathan nothing! Absolutely nothing. It is Jonathan who owe Ndigbo everything. We made him!
When the bunch of political terrorists known as the Cabal, prevented the gentleman Jonathan from taking over from the good man, Yar’Adua of the blessed memory, it was an Igbo woman, the late Dora Akunyili, who publicly confronted the Cabal and told all Nigerians that Yar’Adua was incapacitated. Her revelation gave birth to the doctrine of necessity which brought Jonathan to power. Without Akunyili, Yaradua would probably still be running the country by now even from the grave while Jonathan would be sitting quietly the exact way Mr Buhari is currently running Nigeria from the land of the WhiteWalkers with Osinbajo sitting quietly like an Arsenal fan when his club is facing a 5-0 defeat in the hands of ManU.
We gave Jonathan everything we had in 2011. We even died for him in the North in large numbers. Our support for him was 100%. Even when Jonathan bashing became the order of the day sometime last year, Ndigbo rose to the occasion and defended him even against some of his own people.
In 11th August 2016, I Charles Ogbu, wrote a fact-studded piece titled “IN DEFENCE OF PRESIDENT JONATHAN” published in the Guardian Newspaper which attracted a rejoinder from the presidency titled “IN DEFENCE OF PRESIDENT BUHARI, IS THIS THE CHANGE WE VOTED FOR? YES, IT IS” written by president Buhari’s senior media aide, Garba Shehu to which I again responded with “IN DEFENCE OF THE MASSES, THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT THE CHANGE WE VOTED FOR”.
When I was doing this verbal gymnastics with the highest office in the land over a Jonathan whom I have never met, where was Reno Omokri then? He was hiding somewhere in the U.S, too afraid to write anything in Jonathan’s defence. Now that the monumental disaster, Buhari, has been declared incapacitated, Reno is running his mouth. How convenient!
Our support for Jonathan was driven by a sense of justice, fairness and equity coupled with the fact that his opponent has always been a hopeless murderous ethnic jingoist with generational hatred for Ndigbo.
Why should we now sit back and allow an integrity-challenged Reno Omokri a.k.a Wendell Simlin disparage us for no just cause??
Why did Omokri not denigrate the entire Fulanis when El-rufai and numberless Fulanis made sport of demonizing Jonathan at every turn?
Asari Dokubo, Edwin Clark, Seriake Dickson have all described Jonathan as weak, yet, Omokri neither attacked those people nor their ethnic groups. Why?
Why does he now think he can attack the whole Igbo race simply because one Igbo man purpotedly chose to criticise his ex president?
Saying that a former president was weak and incompetent, is that an insult????
Frankly, I don’t get this! Is Reno such a bad user of the Queen’s language that he no longer understand that “weak” and “incompetence” are but mere adjectives naming an attribute of a noun?
So far, Goodluck Jonathan remains the best president Nigeria ever had. His worst remains better than the best of Buhari. Is this even debatable? He was and still is, a perfect gentleman. Matter of fact, I belong to the school of thought which believes that Nigeria was and still is, too primitive for people like Jonathan to preside over.
But was he weak as president??
Keep sentiment at home let’s find out the answer.
Several months before 2015 election, Jonathan was presented with credible evidence of the treacherous ways of Attahiru Jega, the man he appointed INEC boss but he did nothing! He chose to allow JEGA continue as INEC boss because he felt he (GEJ) couldn’t withstand the pressure JEGA’s sack would bring him.
That was weakness! Jonathan’s failure to sack Jega was the height of weakness on his part.
#ChibokGirlsSaga remains unresolved till today mainly because Jonathan bowed to foreign pressure and admitted it happened even after his govt had earlier dismissed it as a scam. If GEJ hadn’t bowed to pressure, he would have simply arrested that woman Principal of
Chibok school and within hours of questioning, she would have spilled the beans.
GEJ showed weakness by allowing many people including Buhari to undermine his govt.
Are we really gonna waste our time arguing this obvious fact?
Now, let’s visit the dictionary:
The term “Weak” is an adjective and it means “liable to break or yield under pressure” among other meanings.
So I ask again, was Jonathan weak as president? In the Nigerian context, the answer is YES! Refer to the above instances I just listed out.
What then is the problem here?
Even if we lie to ourselves, how can we descend to the level of believing our own lies as the gospel truth?
My father, the late Emmanuel Nwodo Ogbu Nwachima, once allowed my uncle to take possession of our piece of land on the ground that he didn’t want to make trouble with his brother. To me, that was him being a peaceful man but it also portrayed him as weak.
I remember my father as a good man but each time I see my uncle’s children on that land, I think my dad weak. Context is of utmost importance here.
May I remind Reno Omokri that before Jonathan, two Igbo sons, Alex Ekwueme and Ebitu Ukiwe have held the position of both civilian and military vice presidents respectively. Allison Madueke has equally held a very high position in the military. So why should we be grateful for getting individual appointments of army chief and SGF even after paying with our blood in the North and are still being victimized by the present govt over our support for Jonathan?
Reno Omokri and co need to realise that those who live in glass houses should be wise enough not to start throwing stones around.
As far as Jonathan is concerned, what Ndigbo deserve from Reno and Co is gratitude, not attitude.
The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union has carpeted the Federal Government over the arrest and detention of activists across the country.
The umbrella body of the Southern Kaduna people urged the government to deploy the same tactics adopted in the arrest of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and Yoruba Nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, in tackling the rampaging bandits in the North.
SOKAPU’s National President, Jonathan Asake, stated this while addressing journalists in Kaduna on Thursday.
The SOKAPU leader also alleged that over 100 natives had so far been killed in communities in the Zango-Kataf Local Government Area of the state recently.
According to him, the government must stop the use of force on mere agitators, while pampering terrorists in the North.
Asake, a former House of Representatives member, said, “Again, this year, with the commencement of another rainy season, the onslaughts have resumed, which coincide with the period when our farming communities need to be on their farms.
With particular reference are the recent attacks on communities in Zangon Kataf LGA, where no fewer than 100 persons have been massacred within seven days, 12 villages completely decimated and over 90 per cent of Atyap land deserted by inhabitants over fears of frightening uncertainties.
It is sadly unbelievable that 10 days after these massacres and displacement in our communities from all observable indices, there appears to be a conspiracy of silence or a deliberate attempt by the government to downplay the severity of the atrocities and genocides being perpetrated by these attackers across our communities.”
On attacks and kidnapping in the North, Asake added, “We are convinced beyond doubt that the government has a capacity to combat these daredevil bandits, who have made life unbearable for our communities.
“If the government could lure the Benue militant, Terwase Akwaza, aka Gana, out of his hideout in September 2020, and later killed him; if they could trace Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to Kenya and blindfold him to Nigeria in June 2021; if they could trace Sunday Igboho to Cotonou and arrest him just a few days ago; and if they could smoke out the commander of the Eastern Security Network, Ikonso, and later kill him in April 2021, then, it clearly shows that the government has enough capacity to deal with the situation.
We find it strange to explain how the government is unwilling to tackle banditry and kidnappings in the North, but at the same time hasty in deploying full intelligence and military force against southern and Middle Belt activists, who are engaged in one form of agitation, criminality or otherwise.
Even when these bandits brought down an air force jet last Sunday, July 19, at the border between Zamafa and Kaduna states, thereby challenging the sovereignty of our country, the government has not shown enough action to tackle the dangers posed by bandits and insurgents, who have now acquired anti-aircraft launchers and sophisticated weapons.
“The survival, unity and progress of the Nigerian state are more threatened by the untamed atrocities of these northern bandit groups and armed Fulani herdsmen more than the actions of the Kanus, Igbohos and Terwases of the southern and Middle Belt regions.
Nigerian soldiers have allegedly killed three persons at Kwanar Farakwai village along Kaduna—Zaria Expressway, Igabi Local Government Ares of Kaduna State after youths of the community gathered to capture bandits.
A source, who spoke with SaharaReporters, said the bandits invaded the village on Wednesday in an attempt to abduct some villagers but youths armed with weapons rose up to the occasion and pursued the criminals.
The bandits reportedly hid in a rock close the town and the youths, who went after them in a bid to capture them, surrounded the rock.
Unfortunately, a company which houses its staff in the area had contacted some soldiers who, rather than ask questions, shot at the youths gathered at the place, the source said.
According to him, three persons have been confirmed dead while 10 of them sustained serious injuries and have been taken to the hospital.
Villagers have now surrounded the rock demanding the arrest of the kidnappers and had set a portion of rock ablaze.
He said, “Yesterday, kidnappers entered the community; when the kidnappers entered the town, the youths of the town stopped the kidnappers from operating. The kidnappers later discovered that the youths had local guns, the kidnappers ran away and hid inside the rock.
“The youths went after them and surrounded the rock but there is a company inside the rock. When the company officials saw the young people gathered outside, there was tension and they immediately called the attention of the soldiers to the situation, thinking the youths were kidnappers.
When the soldiers came, they just started shooting people. As at now, 10 people are in the hospital, three people have been killed.
“The kidnappers are still inside the rock and the people of the town said they will not leave until the soldiers arrest the kidnappers and hand them over to the villagers.
“The villagers have insisted they will remain there till their desires are granted. They (the youths) have set a part of the rock ablaze.”
Permit me to take the liberty of addressing you on a matter, which I consider quite crucial. I am of a well-considered view that the indigenous peoples of Nigeria are big and staunch enough to fix Nigeria for common good. Yet, you chose the questionable and inglorious path to getting your rights in the country. All that the indigenous peoples of Nigeria need to do is: come together and restructure the country to ensure equity, social justice, fairness and development for all, or simply keep quiet and remain the slaves you believe they are. How can you rightly say you are slaves in your own land?
The indigenous people of Nigeria are full of complaints and doing actually little to help their case. Every day, the depressive trending stories are about nepotism, land gabbing, aggression, incursion, Insurgency, terrorism, rape, cattle rustling, lopsidedness in the distribution of the dividends of democracy, both on infrastructure and human capital development, job offers, and political appointments.
Yet, South Nigeria is made up of 17 states and what is more, its ethnic groups, without exception, are all indigenous. Furthermore, the indigenous populations in the North are found in 17 out of its 19 states plus the FCT. For the avoidance doubt, the states in the North where indigenous ethnic groups exist are: Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Plateau, Nassarawa, Benue, Kogi, Kwara and Niger as well as the FCT Abuja. What this means is that the indigenous peoples of Nigeria dominate at least 4 out of the 6 regions of Nigeria and can therefore achieve whatever change they desire through democratic means, without having to resort to insurgency or armed conflict.
Yet, we hear all the time: “The North has the number to do as they like…”, which is not factual if the indigenous populations were to work together for their common good but are they prepared to do so? Time shall tell. For there is no North and South as far as indigenous populations are concerned.
The indigenous peoples of Nigeria need to understand that the world is not a moral order. The world is configured and ordered as a master-servant system. What this means is that one is either a master of his/her own destiny or someone masters it for him or her. Slaves are those who are not free, who can’t be free or who fight for freedom. A perfect example of modern-day slaves are Southern Nigerians and their Middle Belt counterparts for not utilizing their numbers to bring about the change they seek.
I think it was Harriet Tubman who was credited to have said: I freed a thousand slaves; I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves. Yes, slaves may not know they are actually slaves. Slaves are often separated into house slaves and field slaves. House slaves, as Malcolm X chose to call them, enjoyed the crumbs from the slave masters’ table. Such slaves are disposed to allow themselves to be used to suppress and keep every other slave in bandage and perpetual slavery. But the irony of fate is that whether they are house slaves or field slaves, they are all slaves even though a section may be better treated!
A house slave was a slave who worked, and often lived, in the house of the slave-owner, performing domestic chores. House slaves had many duties such as cooking, cleaning, being used as sexual slaves, serving meals, and caring for children; while field slaves eked it out at the labour camps. The difference in their lives is so real that it can compare to the difference between heaven and hell.
The slave masters utilize divide and rule as a perfect tool to keep the house slave and the field slave divided and fighting. It is such a great and perfect illusion, which reminds one of the story of the axe and the tree. Just because the axe has a wooden handle, the tree thinks they are of the same stock until the axe comes down on it.
It is just like the indigenous Nigerians were used to stopping Biafra, a task they zealously and dutifully embraced. Unknowingly, they actually halted their own freedom and independence by stopping the first indigenous people’s independence, which would have birthed their own independence too or ensured their rights within an equitable sovereign, indivisible Nigeria.
Again, history and posterity beckon indigenous peoples of Nigeria. It is never too late to begin anew. 2023 offers yet another great opportunity. Wisdom demands that a people have to maneuver to survive. Indigenous Nigerians appear to be playing the Russia Roulette with their future by not uniting and exploiting the strengths get the best bargain out of Nigeria. Their present attitude contradicts the well-worn Doctrine of the Common Front, which requires two weak enemies to join forces against a more powerful common enemy and settle scores later. Like Emperor Nero who was said to be fiddling while Rome burns, their leaders remain as uninspiring and docile as ever.
Indigenous Nigerians have dissipated much energy fighting one another, rather than forge a synergy. They will win together or fail together. The choice is theirs and may posterity be kind to them.
· Dr. Law Mefor, is Director, Igbo Leadership Development Foundation and Senior Fellow, The Abuja (Social and Political) School. Tel.: +234- 905 642 4375 E-mail: drlawmefor@gmail.com; follow me on tweeter:@LawMefor1.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has closed its bank account in the United States which also served as a central account for members to pay their monthly dues and contributions to the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
Head of Directorate of IPOB, Chika Edoziem disclosed this in a statement he made available to newsmen on Thursday. According to Edoziem, the order which was given through the legal department of the group has also directed that another account should be open to serve the same purpose.
Edoziem disclosed that the group received a report from the bank that some yet to be determined persons reported that they were operating a fraudulent account and subsequently requested that it should be closed down.
Although the group said it is yet to determine those who originated the fraud report, but noted that a new account has been directed by Kanu, through the legal department to be opened.
The statement directed all members to obey their leader’s command and adjust to the new change.
‘That the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra Worldwide, Nnamdi Kanu authorised the opening of the IPOB USA families were instructed to pay in their monthly contributions.
‘That this same USA National account was also designated by our leader as the account for ESN worldwide contributions.
‘Following a report to the bank by yet to be identified persons that this account is fraudulent, the bank requested that the account be closed,’ Edoziem stated.
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami, SAN, has announced that the members of the Indigenous People Of Biafra, IPOB, aren’t allowed near the court premises when trial of their detained leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu continues.
Kanu who was recently abducted from Kenya to Nigeria will appear in court on July 26 to face his ongoing trial on charges of treasonable felony. He fled the country in 2017 after personnel of the Nigerian Army raided his Afaraukwu home in Abia State and killed dozens in the process.
Apart from the charge of terrorism leveled against him, fresh charges such as killing of security operatives, killing of Fulani cattle herders, banditry etc will now form parts of his offenses against the State.
Announcing the new charges to the public, Malami said Nnamdi Kanu’s case is going into another dimension as fresh charges shall be added to the already existing ones.
Speaking further he said, “What we are talking about here include murder case, terrorism, banditry and criminality. Kanu committed a heinous crime that have not been recorded in this country before like ordering IPOB to be attacking and killing innocent Fulani Cattle rearers that are only catering for their cows, killing innocent force personnel, and so many other things that make up the new charges that will be added to the already existing ones.
“We’ve also passed a signal to all IPOB Members that non of them should be seen around the court premises on the trial date of Nnamdi Kanu.
“We’ve concluded plans with the security agencies on how to deal with anyone who tries to forment trouble on that day. We don’t want to see anyone wearing IPOB T-shirt or cap near the court premises that day.
“The person entitled to be at the court is Nnamdi Kanu’s Lawyers only and the Federal Government Lawyers, also some government officials. That’s all. We don’t want the court to be over crowded on that day” the Attorney General of the Federation said.
Uche Mefor, the former deputy-leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has maintained that “with reference to those lives destroyed” Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the group is deceitful.
Mefor’s relationship with the now-arrested Nigerian separatist leader hit the rocks late last year (2020) as a result of disagreement in respect of the modus operandi of IPOB.
Mefor seems to be averse to violence and has stressed that human rights must be respected in Biafra pursuit.
“I maintain that the culture of lies, of deception and of blackmail of Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB with reference to those lives destroyed and who cannot speak for themselves will take generations to undo,” Mefor wrote on his known Facebook page on Wednesday.
“See how they falsely label and destroy people’s character with impunity.
“When I said that what goes up must come down, I meant every bit of it. Whatever anybody sow, they shall be alive to experience the same pains they inflicted on those vulnerable who are unable to speak for themselves.
“The forces of heaven and earth shall continue to work in dissonance and in discordant pattern for all of you. Time shall definitely tell.”
Living Faith Worldwide, also known as Winners’ Chapel Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo, has justified the recent sacking of some pastors of the church, saying they were “unfruitful”.
We had reported the sacking of some pastors of the church, including Pastor Peter Godwin for allegedly not generating enough income for church.
Reacting to the issue on Wednesday, Oyedepo said, ”When we employed 7,000 pastors at once, social media was dead. We have more employees than most states in Nigeria and we have not owed them or taken bank overdraft once.
”The pastors were asked to go because they were unfruitful. Many of the churches built can never pay for the church building in 30 years. We have no patience for failure here.
”We have built more than 1,000 churches in rural areas where in the next 30 years, they can never generate such fund, with each costing more than N14 million. We are hunting after souls, not income.
”People are confused about our Ministry. I learnt some fellows said, ‘you know, they are not bringing income, that is why they asked them to go.’
”We asked you to go because you are unfruitful. Unfruitful! Blatant failure. Doing what there? We have no patience with failure here.
”When we employed 7,000 people at a time, social media was dead.We have more employees in this organisation than most of the states.
”No one is owed a dime salary and we don’t borrow, we don’t beg. Ask our bank whether we take overdraft. We are covenant bound, working in the light of God’s Word, enjoying an open Heaven.
”Money: Nonsense! We have never lacked it and yet we have never prayed for it, we are just simply obeying God and He is backing up what He is asking us to do. Awesome God.
”Now the next set is about to be flagged off, just certifying the landed property issues, nothing else. We have no lack of anything. The world is confused. Walking in the light of God’s Word. Please, obey God to the full and watch out for His manifestations in your life.
”Well, you don’t need so much mathematics to know a thousand buildings; that is not N1,000 each, that is not N10 million each, that is not 12 Million (naira) each, that is not 14 million (naira) each. Some are 35 million (naira). At a go!
”We have never seen it ourselves. We just watch God doing it. The only criteria: How many souls have they gotten there? Then, build for them. How many souls? Not once: how much money do they have?
”You want to see what we see, go and do what we do. But if you are not saved, there is nothing you do that matters.”
