There are many stories of old students going back to their alma mater to build classrooms and donate books to the school’s library. I am also familiar with cases of NYSC members using their meagre allowances to fund the construction of toilet facilities in the schools they’re teaching. But the case of a former NYSC member going back to his place of primary assignment 51 years after he passed out to make contributions is a rare act of benevolence.

This is the story of a 24-year-old ABU graduate from Kano state who participated in the first set of the NYSC scheme in 1973; and was posted to what was then known as South Eastern State (renamed Cross River in 1976 from which Akwa Ibom was carved out in 1987) and sent to a catholic school, St. Columbanus Secondary School in Ikwen, a very rural community in what is now Obot Akara LGA in Akwa Ibom State, for his primary assignment. He taught English; maths and French.

In the many years after he left the village, the young man went on to acquire postgraduate degrees in Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, worked in the banking industry and later became Nigeria’s minister of finance, and later minister of national planning. In all these years, Dr0 Shamsuddeen Usman, former executive director of UBA and Union Bank; former chief executive of NAL Merchant Bank (now Sterling Bank) and former deputy governor of CBN, never forgot his one year of national service at the rustic community and the lessons he learned.

Last Saturday, Usman, 75, elder statesman and distinguished technocrat, retraced his steps back to the school where he gave a talk to the students and teachers; donated money; instituted a prize for the best final year student in economics and left a few lessons in humility and kindness. I have known him for 35 years, and so, when he invited me to join him, I quickly sensed that the trip would be full of symbols, symbolism and unforgettable experiences.

We arrived at the school at 10.30 am, half an hour earlier than scheduled, but the versatile principal, Rev. Father (Dr) Emem Umoren and his team were ready for us. It was my first time there, although I had driven past the school a few years back on my way to Owerri. The student band was playing while a guard of honour mounted by serving NYSC members was set for the guest’s inspection.

With the welcome formalities done, the principal received and briefed us at his residence. St. Columbanus was established in 1959 by Catholic missionaries from Ireland, first as a boys’ school, but later turned into a coed. It was taken over by the state government in 1970/1971, and given back to the church in the 2008/2009 session. With nearly 600 students; only one-third from Akwa Ibom (the rest from Abia, Cross River and other states), the school has maintained impressive academic performance.

Since last February, it’s been generating its own electricity mostly from solar, supplemented with diesel generators. Each student pays only N210,000 for boarding and tuition per term, a meagre sum compared to private schools. “The campus is so beautiful; it would pass for a small community college or university,’’ I said, eliciting smiles from the principal, who had by now been joined by the Dean of Students Affairs, Rev. Father Dominic. Dr. Usman listened, nodding intermittently as the principal spoke on the history; facilities; academic performance; faculty of the school and its needs.

“We farm and produce a lot of our food, but we also need donations from individuals and organizations,” the principal said. Five years ago, NCC donated a computer lab, but Akwa Ibom state government is yet to offer assistance, although senior government officials, including commissioners, have their children there. “We don’t need government’s money, but they can donate facilities like hostels,’’ the principal concluded just as we moved to the assembly hall where the students, teachers and NYSC members were already seated for the rest of the program. In the audience also were Bartholomew Ogbonna, representing the NYSC State Coordinator; Principal of Methodist Boys School, Nto Ndang, and the president of the alumnus association.

In the assembly hall, Dr Usman gave a keynote address on the theme: “What’s your measure of success?’’, emphasising the seven ingredients of success and the importance of honesty and trust; touching on his personal stories as a corps member and the early lessons he learned.

He described the school as ‘’the best of the best’’, and applauded the management and staff for upholding high standards and nurturing well-rounded students over the years. Usman recalled that he had so well integrated himself into the community that the principal of the neighbouring Methodist Boys High School, Nto Ndang, had invited him to teach Hausa to his students out of admiration for both the NYSC scheme and his personal conduct.

When Usman arrived in Ikwen in 1973, there was no shop in the school and the village. The school had only two graduate teachers, with him making the third. With permission from the principal, he set up the first cooperative shop which turned out to be very profitable. He commuted on his motorbike between the village and Ikot Ekpene – a 20 km distance – to buy provisions for the shop. On one of those commutes, he had an accident, suffered a severe concussion and was unconscious for eight days in a hospital. The accident, he said, was a turning point in his young life as it was a major reason he went for his postgraduate studies because “I wanted to test that my mental capabilities were no badly affected,” he said, noting that something good could come out of a misfortune.

He recalled how a stranger he met in the village had queried how a Hausa man like him (He’s actually Fulani) could be a university graduate – a hackneyed stereotype in those days. Concluding his lecture, Dr Usman promised to ‘connect’ the school to greater opportunities which he may have in future and announced a cash donation to the school which the principal promptly pledged to use in establishing a basketball facility to be named after the donor. There were responses from NYSC members; teachers and the senior prefect, all commending Dr Usman for his uncommon gesture.

Now, what are the takeaways from Usman’s return to Ikwen? The visit reflects a genuine act of generosity without the expectation of a reward. Dr Usman is not a government contractor and he has no family ties to Akwa Ibom state or the school beyond the fact that he did his NYSC program there over half a century ago. He simply followed his natural instincts for philanthropy and a knack for building friendships. The visit also demonstrated that there are Nigerians who do not allow religion; tribe and ethnicity to influence their actions. Third, his visit also taught a lesson in humility and simplicity. Very few people of his ilk would go back to where they did NYSC to give back to the society on their own, without political or ethnic considerations. Four, a genuine act of bigheartedness does not require social media showmanship.

I want to begin by congratulating my dear friend and Senior Apostolic Leader, Pastor Sam Aiyedogbon, his amiable wife, Pastor Grace, and all the pastors and ministers of the Realm of Glory Churches here present, for this laudable initiative of an annual conference at the very beginning of each new year. I thank my friend for inviting me to visit you all today, to share a few thoughts with you. As I stand before you today, may the prayer of David in Psalm 19:14 be realised in us all. Yes, that the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts may be acceptable in the sight of the Lord our God. Amen. And may the Good Lord always demonstrate his powerful presence each time you gather together here, and in your various churches. Amen.

Let me begin my presentation with a poem I composed several years ago that sadly has remained relevant to our ongoing precarious national circumstances.

SCANDAL

Daddy has eaten/ the sour grapes

And today/ My brothers and sisters

Are gnashing their teeth.

Mummy has tasted/ the forbidden fruit

And now/ the kids are out

Naked in the cold.

They have desecrated/ the Tree of Love

And violated/ the Sanctuary of Justice

And so the children flee/from Wisdom's Child

And fall/ into the callous embrace

Of the angel of death.

Tomorrow has become/ a stone wall

That my brothers and sisters

Stare at/ with angry desperation.

Cursed be that blind day/ when daddy resolved

To steal food/ off the hands

Of his own children

Alas for that dark hour/ when mummy chose

To mortgage tomorrow

For the fleeting pleasures/ of today.

--From George Ehusani, Petals of Truth, 1998, page 105

As we engage today in one more reflection on our ever worsening socio-political, economic and security circumstances, and as we attempt to seriously interrogate the role or responsibility of the Christian Church and Church leaders in the evolution of a nation that is now clearly at the perilous crossroads, let me draw your attention to what I consider a very critical, but often missing, often neglected or often insufficiently highlighted element in our public debates on Nigeria’s multiple developmental challenges. It is the place of leadership integrity in nation building and national stability and prosperity. I have become more convinced today than ever before that leadership debauchery and elite idiocy will ruin any nation, no matter how perfect the political, structural and governance blueprint they adopt. And it has indeed been well established by social historians that the collapse of powerful civilisations and empires, is hardly ever precipitated by external attack, but instead by internal decay, as demonstrated in the corruption, immorality and wickedness of successive generations of leaders in those nations. Unfortunately, many well-meaning Nigerians, including highly placed Christians and Christian leaders, who complain endlessly about the sorry state of our nation, are often unable to see the nexus between corrupt leadership and the downfall or destruction of nations.

Let me use passages from the Judeo-Christian Scriptures to illustrate the point: We read in Proverbs 14:34 that righteousness exalts a nation, but that sin is a reproach to any people. In Proverbs 29:2 we read that “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule the people groan.” In Proverbs 29:4 it says, “It is by justice that a king gives stability to the land.” And in Proverbs 29:18 it says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Some translations render this verse as, “Where there is no leadership integrity, the people do perish.” What this means is that leadership integrity is fundamental and critical to national development, national unity, and national peace and prosperity, or that the socio economic and political fortunes of a people are tied up to the integrity or lack thereof of its leaders!

This idea is very well illustrated in the history of Israel. When they had good, god-fearing leaders like Joshua, David, Hezekiah, Josiah, Jehoshaphat, Nehemiah, and Ezra, they conquered their enemies, they experienced restoration, and they enjoyed peace and prosperity. But when they had leaders who lacked integrity and the fear of God, like Saul, Jeroboam, Ahab, and Nadab, they were easily defeated by enemy forces, who often went ahead to loot and pillage their resources. In one case Israel was not only conquered by their adversaries; they were expelled from their land and deported to Babylon for 70 years! To illustrate the point further, there is this report in the book of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus 47:23-25 that,

Solomon rested with his ancestors, leaving one of his stock as his successor, the stupidest member of the nation, brainless Rehoboam, whose policy drove the nation, to rebel. Next, Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, and set Ephraim on the way of evil; from then on, their sins multiplied so excessively as to drive them out of their country; for they tried out every kind of wickedness, until vengeance overtook them.

Recall that (as is recorded in the 12th Chapter of the 1st Book of Kings), it was Rehoboam who succeeded his father Solomon as King of Israel and Judah. When he ascended the throne, the elders of Israel went to him and complained about how hard life had been for them under King Solomon, saying, “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore we beg you, lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he placed on us, and we will serve you.” His counsellors advised him on how to respond to the elders with compassion, but he disregarded the advice of his counsellors, and instead told the elders that, “My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you bloody with chains.” When the elders heard the response of King Rehoboam, they resolved to separate themselves from the kingdom of David. So, they shouted: “To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David.” This was the beginning of the disintegration of the kingdom that was united under David and Solomon.

What the above Scriptures tell us, and what has been sufficiently demonstrated in human history and in our own recent national trajectory, is that the socio-economic and political fortunes of a people often hang peremptorily on the integrity or lack of integrity of its leaders. Where there is moral integrity among the ruling class, the people make economic progress and experience stability and peace. But where the leaders are illegitimate, corrupt, unjust, wicked, immoral, and lacking in credibility, the people suffer economic stagnation, social discord, widespread criminality, and eventual collapse.

As we reflect on the progressive ruination of our dear country, Nigeria, and what the responsibility of the Christian Church and Christian leaders is, or should be, I wish to remind you my brothers and sisters in Christ, that nations are built primarily and fundamentally on values, and not on the quality of structural blueprints embraced, nor on the abundance of material resources, as indeed the post-independence Nigerian experiment has demonstrated. Nation building refers to the internal, organic and dynamic process by which a society identifies, discusses, contests, and reaches consensus on shared values, principles and norms; the process by which a society galvanises a sense of national cohesion, consolidates a national identity, and forges a sense of common purpose or a set of common goals to which the society is oriented. In other words, nation building is the process of moulding diverse groups into a unified cohesive, harmonious, and stable national entity, with shared vision and collective mission.

Essential and of critical importance in the process of nation building is a transparently honest, visionary, self-sacrificing, and therefore legitimate and credible leadership. Such leadership assumes the role of Architects, Engineers, and Project Managers of the emergent nation. Thus, strong, stable, unified, and prosperous nations are built fundamentally on values, the kind of values that we are supposed to be promoting every day in the Church; the same values that built ancient Christian civilisations. Experience has shown that such values are anchored on, and sustained by, self-sacrificing leaders of transparent integrity and credibility; leaders whose very lives encapsulate and personify the values that they seek to propagate in the polity. Otherwise, such value will hardly take root in the society. When however, such critical values for nation building as fear of God, leadership integrity, truth, justice and fairness, as well as a high degree of patriotism and sacrifice for the common good, are missing, what we often have is a free-for-all: intractable conflicts, political tension and social discord, the preponderance of violent crimes, monumental corruption, widespread banditry and rampant impunity. Indeed, 4th Century Philosopher, Augustine of Hippo, declared that kingdoms (or societies) devoid of justice, are “nothing but a bunch of bandits or a gang of robbers.”

What the foregoing implies is that as we engage in one more discussion on our ever worsening national circumstances, we must pay close attention to the reality of widespread moral vacuity among the political, economic, socio-cultural, and sadly, even religious elite of our country, which has scandalised the youth population and as it were, re-wired their brains towards the elevation of primitive greed over a life of meaning, the enthronement of vanity and vainglory over a life of purpose and meaning, and the proliferation of corruption, criminality and gangsterism in place of a culture of truth, honesty, and integrity. As we reflect today on our nation at the crossroads, I ask that we Christians should pay urgent attention to, and address very critically the embarrassment of the naked public square in Nigeria, whereby criminally minded characters, and alleged gangsters in our midst, are more easily finding their way to all levels of political office, than men and women of honour, integrity, discipline, modesty, patriotism and sacrifice.

Yes, as we engage in one more discussion session on the way forward for Nigeria, and what prophetic role Church leaders must play, I ask that we seriously interrogate the situation whereby our nation more easily throws up for political office, crooked and devious characters, including ethnic bigots and religious extremists, those who regularly manipulate the religious sentiments of the people for political capital, those who recklessly exploit the age-old ethnic acrimonies and antipathies in the land for selfish gain, and those thoughtless others who habitually loot the local government, state or national treasury for themselves and their families, and thereby render the population destitute. Until we address this anomaly; until we confront this fundamental error in our concept of political leadership and our leadership recruitment processes, I do not believe that we can make any significant progress towards national transformation.

Many will agree with me that the Nigerian nation is sadly comatose and on the verge of disintegration today, largely on account of the successive generations of thoughtlessly corrupt, senselessly nepotistic, recklessly lawless and astonishingly incompetent elite class that we have been plagued with since independence, and particularly since the first coup of 1966. Though there are a few positive indications here and there, the conduct of the younger generation today does not particularly inspire hope in the immediate future. See where we have put ourselves today: For while the rest of the world is competing in digital technology, and flying high at jet speed in business and economics, and while some others are exploring the outer space and working hard towards colonizing other planets, the citizens of our own country are standing still, weighed down by the vestiges of a profligate past and a confused or clueless present, superintended as it is by a regime of arrogance that is largely born of culpable ignorance. After nearly 64 years of independence, Nigerians are filled with regret and nostalgia about broken promises, dashed hopes, and shallow dreams of a land of unity, peace and prosperity. For many of us here, the story of Nigeria is that of a Paradise Lost. It is the story of the fathers having eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are on edge, or the case of the mothers having sown the wind, and the children are harvesting the whirlwind, as expressed in Jeremiah 31:29, and in my opening poem.

It is said that a society grows great when elders plant trees under whose shade they know they will never sit. The embarrassing truth we must acknowledge today however is that many of us who call ourselves Christians, and whom Jesus Christ refers to when he says, you are the light of the world (Matt 5:14), have often not distinguished ourselves from the rest of the madding crowd. Though we parade our Christian identity everywhere, and though we often make a public show of our religiosity, many of us have not conducted ourselves as a city on the hill, which men should see and give glory to God (as described in Matthew 5:16); but we Nigerian Christians, have often functioned as blind guides, greedy opportunists, fraudulent public officers, corrupt contractors, and adulterous parents, who have shamelessly and unrepentantly stolen food off the hands of our own children. Christians are among the successive military rulers and political overlords who have often turned out to be reckless plunderers and mindless looters of the Nigerian commonwealth. Christians are among the Nigerian elite who have often exploited the poverty and ignorance of the majority of our people, and cashed in on the existing ethno-religious antipathies and polarities, for selfish political and economic gain.

Over the last sixty-four years, as we the leaders, the parents, the teachers, the pastors and preachers, became more enterprising in greed and political mischief, and as we failed to inspire the young people in the pursuit of higher values, we lost control of the younger generation. Many of our graduates from secondary schools, universities, and polytechnics, became social deviants, internet fraudsters, sexual perverts, drug addicts, criminal kidnappers, murderous bandits, and terrorist insurgents, constituting an embarrassment in our homes, a nightmare in our schools, and a nuisance in our offices. With juvenile bravado, many of these young people have been visiting their vengeance on an adult society that has failed to give them a sense of direction. They have gone about cheating and stealing, robbing and raping, and killing and maiming; and they have often committed these crimes with the sophistication of the Italian mafioso.

Thus, I reason that the collective psyche of our young people has been so seriously wounded, and their delicate consciences so brutally battered, by the atrocities of the adult society, that we now stand the chance of losing tomorrow altogether. Our fear is heightened by the number of delinquent juveniles who are daily paraded on TV by Nigerian security agencies as suspected assassins, armed robbers, kidnappers, bandits, and insurgents. It is amazing how many Nigerians often discuss and lament the rising crime rate among our youths in the country, without taking into cognizance the acrimonious socio-economic and political circumstances that largely gave birth to the phenomenon we are now having to contend with.

We have engaged in a life of debauchery. Like the prodigal son in the Luke 15 parable of Jesus, we have left our palace of pride to dwell in pit of shame. We have often thrown decency and integrity to the dogs, and flushed justice and truth into the septic tank. We have often violated love and trampled on the poor and the weak. We have enthroned bribery and corruption, and elevated the menace to such a high state craft, that government business can almost not happen without corruption. We have badly neglected our educational institutions and made our teachers an object of ridicule in the eyes of society.

Our schools and colleges in turn have lost their sacred character as formation centres, and they have rather become breeding grounds for thugs, touts, secret cultists, gangsters, kidnappers, bandits, rapists, prostitutes and Yahoo-Yahoo fraudsters. We hear these days of school children beating up their teachers, sacking their principals, and burning up their libraries. Examination malpractice in some of our schools has now assumed the frightening dimension whereby teachers and principals actually organize the cheating at external examinations, and parents do resolve each year to contribute money to "settle" supervisors and invigilators. How bad can things get in Nigeria?

My own reflection is that we are about to lose many more millions of our young people whose teeth are on edge as I say, because their fathers have eaten sour grapes. We are about to lose millions of young people who are constipated because their mothers have eaten the forbidden fruit. Our young people, like their peers elsewhere are blessed with numerous talents and they are full of energy and ingenuity, but they lack the necessary pride in their fatherland. Yes, our youths are highly resourceful and creative, but they are often devoid of any sense of purpose, meaning and direction. Our children have not been adequately parented. They have not been adequately taught, nor have they seen enough practical examples of truth and justice, love and compassion, sacrifice and patriotism in the adult community, to motivate them.

There is serious work to be done by all of us Christians and Christian leaders, if our country Nigeria is to be redeemed and set on the path of national rejuvenation. The Christian Church must assume its responsibility as the conscience of the nation, and bestow hope amid the hopelessness and desperation of our people. Each one of us that make up the Christian Church must commit to such values that make for nation building as truth and honesty, and justice and equity. There is much work for leaders of the Church to do, if this nation Nigeria, now tethering on the precipice is ever going to be saved. The time has come for repentance. For us believers in God, the situation may be bad enough but not hopeless. We can experience rejuvenation, if today we begin to retrace our steps, and get back to the basics. After all, we read in 2 Chronicles 7:14 that “if the people called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” We should believe that from the rubble of our shattered motherland, a rich, powerful, peaceful and united country can emerge, if today we identify and get rid of the demons that have be-witched this land since independence.

Christians are supposed to be harbingers of hope. To communicate that hope amid a hopeless generation therefore, we must recommit ourselves to the life of truth, justice, and righteousness. Christian parents must be ready to make sacrifices for the sake of their children and their children’s children. Christian teachers and preachers must recognize that they teach more by their lives than by their lessons. It is not more fiery sermons that our young people need today. What they need instead, is to see practical examples of truth, honesty and fairness at work in the family setting, in the conduct of school activities, in the examination halls, in the civil service, in the award and execution of contracts, and in such processes of governance as the just and equitable distribution of opportunities as well as the application of sanctions. Young people are constantly let down and disappointed, when their leaders are fraudulent or when they see teachers assisting unscrupulous students to cheat at examinations. Young people are shocked when they discover that their governors, ministers or parents are liars. Young people are scandalized when they see their pastors and preachers living in reckless and conspicuous affluence, while the overwhelming majority of the people, including their own members, are struggling daily with dehumanizing poverty or destitution. Then they wonder whether a life of truth, honesty, integrity, and sacrifice is ever possible on this side of heaven. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be honest with ourselves: the Nigerian society is not changing for the better, and the Nigerian people are not being radically transformed in our Churches. Though we claim to be very religious, though our Churches and auditoriums are crowded and we host very loud worship sessions, though many of us pride ourselves as being born again, and we can quote passages of the Scripture effortlessly from Genesis to Revelation, and though we host numerous night vigils and deliverance sessions, the truth that stares us in the face (when we look at the Key Performance Indicators), is that Nigerian Christians are not being transformed in any significant way, and consequently, we have consistently failed, and woefully so, in the prophetic task of transforming our society for God.

Yet we all know that the Gospel of Christ is the most potent force for individual and social transformation. Truly committed Christian disciples remain the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-14). The power of the Gospel of Christ has not diminished in anyway. The challenge is, as Jesus says in Matthew 9:37, that the harvest is plentiful, but that genuine labourers in the Lord’s Vinyard are very few. The first three hundred years of Christianity sufficiently demonstrate how a small group of 12 committed disciples transformed the whole of the then known world with the power of the Gospel, and the witness of transparently holy lives of love and service, sacrifice and martyrdom.

Nigeria needs Christian leaders of prophetic vision, with sufficient sense of mission, to champion the all-important project of youth formation for national rejuvenation. In an age and in an environment where material power and status are pursued with religious passion, where wealth is made into an idol, where many pastors and preachers have neglected the gospel of repentance and salvation, and have simply become motivational speakers, propagating a cross-less Christianity, preaching material prosperity, and promoting the senseless life of consumerism, vanity and vainglory; in such an environment, we need authentic agents of the Gospel of Christ, whose lives would personify the gospel challenge, serving as beacons of light amid the darkness of elite debauchery and popular idiocy in Nigeria.

In a religious environment with the nauseating spectacle of stinkingly rich men of God, who belong more to the club of billionaire entrepreneurs and business tycoons, than the body of apostles and prophets, a religious environment that features flamboyant Gucci pastors, designer suit evangelists, celebrity jerry coil prophets, trendy gospel music entertainers, and private jet owning overseers, etc.; yes, in such an environment of pleasure-seeking and comfort loving preachers and pastors, who have become ineffective and ineffectual as Christian agents for national transformation, Nigeria is in dire need of true missionaries of the authentic Gospel of Christ, with a heightened sense of the message of the Cross, which St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:25, is “the foolishness of God that is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God that is stronger than human strength.”

Jesus declares in John 15:19 and John 17:14-16 that we are in the world, but not of the world. This has serious implications for the way we live our lives, and the choices we make daily. Christians and Christian leaders should clearly distinguish themselves from the senseless life of materialism, consumerism, show business and vainglory. As unattractive as it may sound to the modern pleasure seeking and comfort loving person, ascetism is the truly characteristic Christian way of life – the way of sacrificial love, self-abnegation, humility, frugality, modesty, simplicity and contentment with very little. Christians of all generations are challenged by the Gospel of Christ to withdraw from the world of excessive cravings for comfort and pleasure, which the ancient Christians identified as “concupiscence” – the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (as listed in 1 John 2:16). Every sage, every mystic, every holy man or woman, in virtually all religious traditions through the course of human history, has always recognised that ascetism is the key to living the religious life, or pursuing any measure of holiness. 

Truly religious men and women have always recognised that frugality, simplicity, modesty, and indeed wilful (self-imposed) poverty, such as exemplified in Jesus Christ and his early disciples, provide the best channel for union with the divine. In a world dominated by the prince of darkness, where men and women are constantly engaged in ever more aggressive competition for material wealth, political power and sensual pleasure, those who truly want to serve the God of Jesus Christ or transform their society for God, must recognise the need to withdraw, to stand aside from, or to be a sign of contradiction to the kind of senseless consumption and unmitigated acquisition, that are actually the instruments of the devil to turn the people’s hearts away from contemplating the more transcendental values, or finding meaning in God alone. From my little study of the saints and scholars of our religion, and my own modest experience as a struggling Christian, I have come to the conclusion that the Christian spiritual life grows in almost direct proportion to the extent we succeed in moderating (or taming) the often-unwieldy appetites of the flesh.

Brothers and sisters, the central paradox of life, sufficiently demonstrated through the course of history, (which is also the principal paradox of our Christian faith), is that those whom God uses to bring about major spiritual, moral, and social transformation in their societies, often have to endure untold suffering and pain, as well as persecution, and now and again, they even have to endure physical martyrdom. Is this not why we say that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church? The Scriptures and the early Church present us with a portrait of those whose transparent lives of sacrificial love, frugality, modesty, simplicity, and selfless service, commended them highly to the pagans who lived around them, to such an extent that many unbelievers were won over to the faith. (See Acts 11:26 and 1 Peter 1:22-23). They included Peter & Andrew, James & John, Paul & Barnabas, Priscilla and Aquila, as well as Stephen and Thekla.

Compare the lives and the travails of such prophets of old as Jeremiah, Amos, Hosea, John the Baptist, and the early Christian disciples referred to above, to the parade of fun-loving, honour-desiring, and comfort seeking evangelists, priests, pastors, and bishops in today’s Nigeria, who appear to have forgotten that when in Mark 10:35-45 the sons of Zebedee went to ask Jesus for positions of glory, his answer was, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I must drink, or be baptised with the baptism with which I must be baptised?” My elementary Theology tells me that Jesus’ cup is the cup of selfless service and sacrifice, and his baptism is the baptism of vicarious death on the Cross of Calvary. In Matthew 16:24, he says, “Anyone who wishes to be a follower of mine, must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, will find it. To paraphrase the words of Jesus here, I would say, “If you want to transform the world, you must turn your back on it.” Recall the Gospel episode of Mark 9:17-29. An epileptic demoniac was brought to the disciples of Jesus, that he might be delivered. The disciples tried, but they could not cast the demon out. After Jesus had healed the boy, the disciples asked him privately, “Master, why could we not cast it out?” Jesus answered them, “This kind can only be cast out through prayer (and fasting).

The point I want to make with this story is that the kind of vicious demons that have all this while terrorised our dear country Nigeria, can only be cast out at the foot of the Cross, and in the desert of sacrifice and pain, not in the comfort of palatial mansions or the cosy compartment of celebrity Private Jets and Rolls Royce cars. Many Nigerian men and women of God think that they can transform our morally depraved, socially deranged and politically dysfunctional society, while being themselves devoted to the same indulgences of the flesh which are the root cause of our national malaise. They are, to say the least, utterly deluded and terribly mistaken. The Apostle John admonishes Christians as follows: “Do not love the world or the things of the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world – the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches – comes, not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever. (1 John 2:15-17). And in 1 Timothy 6:10, St. Paul warns us all that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and that in the desire for riches, some have inflicted many fatal wounds on themselves.

The aggressive competition among the men and women of God in contemporary Nigeria, for wealth, for power, for pleasure and for popularity or celebrity status; the competition among Church leaders as to who would build the biggest and the most elegant auditoriums; the competition church leaders, as to who would have the president of the country or the governor of the state as his personal friend or church member; such competition is in my humble opinion, embarrassingly scandalous, extremely dangerous, and utterly counter-productive for the prophetic mission of the Christian Church in our society today. In a thoroughly distressed society such as ours, where millions of the people have been reduced to the dehumanising state of utter destitution, when powerful men of God are now and again seen hobnobbing with the rich oppressor; when they are seen driving around with long motorcades of some of the most expensive vehicles in town; when they are seen parading kill and go police escorts and fierce looking begoggled bouncers; and when are seen bypassing protocol at customs and immigration points in the airports, and they head straight to the airport tarmac to board their private jets, etc.; such conduct of some powerful men of God in our society, does not promote the gospel of Christ in any way. Instead, such reckless bourgeoisie display amid widespread destitution, often breeds the kind of resentment that precipitated the French revolution, when, within a 48-hour period in September 1792, over 200 priests, nuns, and bishops were brutally massacred by angry mobs, because the powerful men and women of God at that time were perceived to be friends and allies of the oppressive ruling class. Sadly however, the most consistent lesson of history is that men and women do not learn from history!

On the eve of January 1, 2025, I addressed the members of my Chaplaincy on one phrase I took from the works of the contemporary English mystic, John Butler. As a young man full of youthful idealism, he said he saw so much that was wrong with the world, and he was poised to do something great, something extraordinary, towards changing the world for the better. But while on an extended meditation one day, he heard a voice, loud and clear. The voice said, “To make whole, be whole.” He said it was repeated a couple of times, “To make whole, be whole.” These words changed his perspectives completely, and they directed the conduct of the rest of his entire life, thereafter. To make the world whole – meaning, to mend the broken world, we must first fix the broken fragments of ourselves and achieve a measure of wholeness within ourselves. To heal our society of selfishness, hatred, resentment, religious and ethnic bigotry, etc., we must first be healed of those destructive tendencies within ourselves.

We who are priests, pastors and preachers, cannot transform our society in any significant way, until we ourselves have been sufficiently purged of the very poisonous, carnal and worldly behaviours and inclinations, which have made our country the hell of a place that it is today, namely: the desire for wealth without morality, the pursuit of power without principles, the indulgence in pleasure without conscience, and the conduct of religion without sacrifice. Thus, as Christian leaders, we cannot make any serious impact in transforming our chronically materialistic, blindly consumeristic, and senselessly hedonistic society, until we are sufficiently detached from our own worldly cravings, and learn to live simple, modest, humble, and contented lives, like our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was in the form of God, did not cling to his equality with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave… (Philippians 2:6-11).

As agents of the Gospel, pastors and preachers, we cannot heal our society of the spiritual ailments that beset it, until we reject in its entirety the grand deception that now dominates our national landscape, whose proponents sadly include a number of pastors and preachers, namely, that you can somehow become a multi-millionaire without sweating, that you can have the pleasure of roses without thorns, that you can have a crown without the cross, and that you can attain glory while avoiding all pain. Those of us who are committed to transforming our society with the power of the Gospel, must reject this fraudulent message, this grand deception, this warped theology, that some refer to as the prosperity gospel, because it has aggravated the problem of corruption in our society.

My dear friends, the challenge of re-engineering society and effecting a paradigm shift in our social orientation and value prioritisation lies squarely on the shoulders of those of us in the Christian Church, who are today sufficiently dissatisfied with the quality of existence of Nigerians in general, and the quality of Christian discipleship in particular, but who have refused to give up on our Christian prophetic responsibility. Those of us who accept the call to take responsibility for the future of our society, must now step forward from the madding crowd and be counted on the side of reason.

Those of us gathered here, and other Nigerians of goodwill, must rise up today and be counted at this critical point in our nation’s history. We must take seriously the words of Brutus in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, when he declared: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.” I call on you men and women of God here, to think of investing heavily in the formation of our youth population, in the kind of values that would make for a life of meaning and purpose.

The young people in this country must be taught that a better Nigeria is possible, and they must begin today to work diligently and assiduously towards it. They must be taught to shun crass materialism, senseless consumerism, and blind pleasure, which have become the dominant preoccupation of their generation. Young people must be taught that they will never achieve their full potential in life, if they allow the unruly passions of the flesh to overwhelm and enslave them. They must be taught that instead of seeking escape in the plastic wings of sensual pleasure, and the vanity and vainglory daily offered by celebrities on social media, they must invest their youthful energies in the quest for solid, qualitative education, because real power is attained through the cultivation of discipline and the acquisition of knowledge. If today we begin seriously to help the Nigerian youth shape their lives along the path of deferred gratification instead of the instant gratification that is now the order of the day, then the future may still be salvaged, then tomorrow may not be lost. If today we are committed to showing our young people how to choose life in place of the prevailing death-wish that is expressed in widespread violence and crime; if we help them choose the culture of discipline, service and sacrifice, in place of the destructive culture of reckless and unmitigated pleasure; then they may have a brighter future ahead of them. Yes, if we help our young people embrace these higher values and principles, they shall one day sing the National Anthem with a sense of pride in their fatherland, and a sense of belonging to a nation of freedom, peace and unity.

It is not enough to identify the problems and keep bemoaning our plight. We cannot continue to sit idly and complain endlessly of the deplorable state of affairs, for it is better to light a candle than to forever curse the darkness. We must begin by getting all the young people in our sphere of influence to commit themselves to the all-important task of national rejuvenation. Let us all get to work and light the candle of hope in our churches, in our homes, in our offices, and in our schools, by struggling to exemplify the virtues of truth, justice, honesty and discipline. Let us be deliberate and purposeful in modeling for our young people the virtues of sacrificial love, truth, justice, discipline and patriotism, which alone can bring about the desired peace and lasting prosperity. Let us be deliberate in cultivating and propagating a new ethic of life, and pursue such roadmap relentlessly. Let us work seriously on devising creatively new intervention strategies towards changing the narrative of our country, for indeed "where there is no vision, the people perish."

Let me end this reflection by proposing that those of us who are ready to assume responsibility for the future, should learn the following pledges by heart, and teach them to our young people, so they may begin to recite them daily, until we come about the new Nigeria of our dream:

1. I pledge my commitment to the emergence of a new Nigeria, recognising that greed and avarice are a cancer that eats its own host to death; that corruption ultimately kills not only the victims, but also the perpetrators; and that unless we change our course we are bound to end up where we are headed.

2. I pledge my commitment to the emergence of a new Nigeria, recognising that lies, manipulation, and political subterfuge have never, and will never nurture a people; that thievery, robbery, and roguery, by whatever name else it is called, when it becomes king in a land, that land rots; and that when hooliganism and banditry get into high places, the superstructure soon comes crashing down.

3. I pledge my commitment to the emergence of a new Nigeria, recognising that where lawlessness becomes the norm, and illegality becomes the rule, the nation collapses; that righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to a people; and that where there is no vision the people soon perish.

So, help me God!