….calls for religious sanitization summit
Prophet James Omitade of the Holy Trinity Authority Prophetic Church, Ado Ekiti has suggested a general summit to address the various anomalies that have characterized religion in Nigeria.
Omitade made the suggestion in a write-up where he criticized the pattern of service of some churches.
Omitade wrote:
Nigeria the most populated country in Africa and the abode of the largest numbers of black people in the world is once again beginning her journey to greatness in reality in search of economic prosperity. Truly blessed with vast resources including oil and solid mineral resources, arable land and indeed a highly educated population. It is no longer a secret that the cream of the nation’s population with their youthfulness and vigour are mostly consigned to a life of under employment , idleness and the recent popular syndrome called “JAPA” This terminology is a sobriquet for the urge to check out to any where abroad so far it is not Nigeria.
Numerous lies and propaganda have been hoisted by several past governments, both in the federal and the states that the youth have no employable pedigree, their certificates are said to be both fluid and non competitive in both the contemporary business environment and modern governance. Only those who have connections or know one person or the other could secure employment. The worse is that only government officials and their cronies can place their children in coveted federal government parastatals like the central bank, the national oil company ,blue ship parastatals and the likes, yet the nation’s tertiary educational institutions remain open and have students imparted by erudite professors and lecturers who are worth their salt.
For the highly educated amongst these teeming youth , hope could be in the horizon if truly the government this time around will keep faith with the promise they have made to the people during electioneering campaigns. The vulnerable however, amongst these youth are less educated or completely uneducated. They are open to all kinds of doctrines and misdirections. unarguably they live by the hour and the day.
One of the samples of these minds of youth are the almajiris who neither have any means of sustenance nor a place to lay their heads at night . surely the introduction of free basic and secondary education coupled with normadic education are steps in the right directions but the goal should have been furthered to the acquisition of vocational skills, technical knowledge and ultimately placements in organisations where the cherished dreams and visions could be nourished .An idle hand is the devil’s workshop, while government is working assiduously to better the lot of the common man, series of pockets of violence that manifest as insurgency ,yahoo,banditry and kidnappings that give the nation sleepless nights are traceable mainly to this bunch of miscreants. These are the tools used by the architects of crises in the country.
It will be of great importance to the nation’s psyche to put mind to the activities of some religious leaders whose sermons and utterances are precursors of incendiary on National peace .I know most government activities are classified as security agencies fight tooth and nail to achieve the ever intractable peace, knowing full well that government does not expose her tracks in this regards. I should like to suggest that there should be a convocation of religious leaders summit in the federal capital territory .This shall be organised by the federal government with the representatives of the security agencies in attendance .
What purpose will this serve ? The purpose must be a rapid departure from both the distant and recent past when they were given the power and the right to foist their demands on the nation. Rather , the minister of internal affairs must on behalf of the president of the federal republic read out the riots acts, the comportment sermon and public utterances rules which these religious leaders must strictly adhere to and the new codes of ethics that will guide both public worship and seminars by religious organisations which must be reeled out to stem the tide of confrontation , sponsorship and incitements of people against people. As the present administration is fighting tooth and nail to revitalize the comatose economy , we should not be oblivious of the socio-psychological ills that plague our society,hence the conurdrum we find ourselves.No efforts should be spared in our quest at securing protecting and managing the country in the face of the challenges the twenty first (21st) century is presented with in the global community.Religion is a tool on its own that can be channelled to galvanize the diverse groups and nations in the country.
Candidly speaking, mere registration of churches with addresses with the corporate affairs commission is barely enough to assure the nation of the veracity of these churches, mosques and their leadership .More spanners will need to be put to the works in order to facilitate the profiles of the leaders and their operations in some database in order to keep a bird view on their activities.The era of undue laissez faire in mushrooming spheres of influence in religious circle’s should be done away with and government must as a matter of fact re-orientate the populace about the diversity in the country in several areas including religion,language,tribe, cultural practices, agricultural produce,weather patterns etc.
It is an understatement to say that most religious leaders are privy to some of the religious crises the nation witnessed in the past , however the national and states legislatures must be ready to proclaim legislations to back up the Federal government initiatives. These laws will spell out the limit of infractions that could be tolerated by the government. Most of the religious leaders are hosts to corrupt officials both in public and private sectors who pillaged the economy. Their best sermons to them is words of appreciation for how much they are bringing to their fold from their ill-gotten wealth. In any case , these religious organizations positions and practices are antithetical to the furtherance of a progressive, peaceful and successful nation.
Most of these organizations are more or less cesspool of corruption with criminal and sharp practices .They have lost their lustre and the right to be the guardian of the Nation’s moral and spiritual conscience .They are highly divisive and selfish to the extent that all they are out for is how to feather their own nests. They have since lost the spiritual rudder they suppose to direct their folds with and are full of avarice and greed. Tell me why should a religious leader be openly associated with the aspirations of political gladiators whose pedigree are in doubt? No more purity and abstinence from uncleanliness , these have taken a huge toll on public morality as most criminals troubling the different parts of the country find refuge under their cover.
How many of these leaders serve as good examples to their flock?
How many follow the footsteps of their progenitors in similar manners as they offered their lives as sacrificial examples ? Yet they mouth pilgrimage to heaven or paradise but cannot go there themselves . It is high time the federal government rose up to the task of re-orienting everybody to make the land governable. I pray as government launch different initiatives that will sanitize every aspect of the nation from time to time, God Almighty will grant Her success beyond the wildest imaginations of everybody.