By Richard Thomas Ibadan
Bishop Jide Orire is the Founder and General Overseer of Save and Serve Christ Family Church Ologuneru area, Ibadan, Oyo State.
The revered cleric in this exclusive interview spoke on the pains of removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu, roles of church and clerics in nation building and other sundry issues.
Excerpts:
What do you think should be the roles of churches and clergymen in nation building?
It is very simple, number one is to pray for the nation while number two is to give good advice to government.
The Bible says, “I wish above all things that supplications and giving of thanks be made for all men, including people in authority.” So, the first role of Ministers of God is to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, I mean Nigeria. And let me tell you, if not for prayers, what happened in Afghanistan and Rwanda would have happened in Nigeria. What happened in Ukraine and Russia would have happened here too but because we are a praying nation, it didn’t happen. So, I want to appeal to Ministers of God to continue praying more and more for the nation.
Then, when we want to give advice to government as Ministers of God, we should do it with fear of God because government is established by God and the people running government business are also put there by God. The Bible says promotion cometh not from the North, East, West and South but from God Almighty. We should allow brotherly love to continue among the people.
I also want to admonished Ministers of God to do away with prophecies that can cause confusion in the country, instead, they should focus on preaching the word of God, embark on evangelism and teaching the church the word of God.
Is it a good practice for Ministers of the gospel to be involved or engaged in government activities and business, don’t you think this would undermine their calling and faith?
David was a prophet Ă nd a king, at the same time, there is nothing wrong if Ministers of God are involved in government activities and business, but they have to be led by the Holy Spirit. If they are not going to be led, then they should not step into it.
President Bola Tinubu’s administration has hit the ground running with the removal of fuel subsidy and the appointment of Ministers and members of his cabinet and others. how do you see this development?
Concerning the removal of fuel subsidy by president Bola Tinubu, I don’t see anything bad about the development. We were made to believe that some cabals were making billions of naira through sabotage from the oil sector, and we were were also informed that his administration recently save N400billion from oil sector since he assumed office, I don’t know how true that is. But the removal of subsidy has made the masses to suffer so much. People are very hungry and angry, the people are frustrated already, there is tension everywhere, that is the reason government should do everything humanly possible to put smiles on the faces of the masses.
The second thing is that, with the removal of subsidy, there should not be hike in electricity tariff. If there is hike in electricity tariff, this will further impoverish the already hungry masses and make life more difficult for them. So the administration of Tinubu has a lot to do. Recently, we heard that the there will be increase in the tuition fee of universities and higher institutions, how will the masses survive in this kind of situation? No way, the development will further create more tension in the country if government increases tuition fees.
The removal of fuel subsidy by president Tinubu is commendable but other sectors of the economy must be put into shape. Other things must be done to cushion the hardship facing the people of Nigeria.
What I am saying as a patriotic Nigerian is that since subsidy has been removed, tuition fees of universities and other things must be reduced. Electricity tariff too Must be reduced and so on to make life bearable for Nigerians.
The third thing is that, government should open the borders so that food stuff, including rice and others can come in large quantities into the country to reduce hunger facing the masses. Government should assist rice farmers with substantial amount of money out of the saved fuel subsidy money so that there will be more staple foods to save the country from the imminent hunger.
Look, let me tell you, if the price of bag of rice can come down from fourty thousand to twenty thousand, Nigerians will celebrate this government, I therefore appeal to government to do anything humanly possible to put smiles on the faces of the masses, I believe they will appreciate it.
Another thing I want to talk about is that, I believe in equality, the government of Tinubu should ensure there is equal representation of all the tribes in his government, especially the Igbos. The president should do everything possible to bring the Igbos to a round table so that they will have a sense of belonging as fellow Nigerians.
The greatest weapon for peace and stability in any country is not the procurement of arms and amunitions, but dialogue. The President should as father of the nation have quality dialogue with the Igbos, Yorubas, Hausas, Itshekiris and members of the Niger Deltas with a view of strengthening and fostering peace, love and cooperation among the the entire tribes in Nigeria
Then, he should also dialogue with Nnamdi Kanu, Asari Dokubo, Sunday Igboho and even Gani Adams, let the president dialogue with them like his children and make them cooperate with his government. Nigeria belongs to all of us, we don’t have another country to call our home, so we need to work together. Asiwaju Tinubu should engage leaders of the Boko Haram and bandits in dialogue to make them drop their weapons and make Nigeria move forward.
President Tinubu has started well with the removal of fuel subsidy, but he should make Nigerians happy. His government should have a slogan, “To make Nigerians happy is a task that must be done. “To achieve peace, harmony and stability in Nigeria is a task that must be done, which is different front he slogan during the civil war, which says, “To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done. If we need to keep Nigeria one, all these things I have said must be done by him.
Then, religious leaders should be very careful with their utterances. At this point in time we need peace among ourselves. We religious leaders, either Muslim or christian clerics should be very careful on issues that may likely heat up the polity, especially those who criticize the other religions. This is not good enough, it is a sin before God and man. The laws of the land is clear, religious leaders should make it a matter of must to teach their followers not to take laws into their hands over religious matters. Taking laws into their hands is unconstitutional and illegal.
In Conclusion, on the Nigerian students and ‘Japa Syndrome’, government should try as much as possible to revamp the nation’s economy in order to discourage the young Nigerians especially the students from running abroad. Because, some of them have criminal tendencies, and when they commit crimes abroad, they will eventually portray Nigeria as a bad country.
I want to appeal to all the Ministers of God and clerics, both Muslims and Christians to continue to pray for Nigeria and the government of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu so that the nation can move forward. Also, the Judiciary should be allowed to do its job especially on election petitions among others.
