NIGERIA AT 51: NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & THE CHALLENGE OF LEADERSHIP

NIGERIA AT 51: NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & THE CHALLENGE OF LEADERSHIP

A History of opportunities not activated:

In 1960, Nigeria joins several other African nations in breaking the yoke of colonial rule, to full fledge independence…others being, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mail, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Somalia and Togo. In a proper assessment of the development of these nations, and their counterparts in other regions of the world, shows a continual failure of successive leadership to use the political independence to create viable nations, for the benefits of their peoples. A chronological assessment of some of Nigeria’s historical development show a chequered history of opportunities and failures, which, in comparison to similar placed nations from Asia and other parts of the world would indicate, a failure in successive leadership, both politically and culturally.

Let’s look at some highlights of our national development over the past 51 years.

Highlights of Nigeria’s National History, 1960 – 2010:

1960 Nigeria gains independence
1963 First military coup by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu
1966 Counter coup by Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon
1967 Nigerian civil war starts
1967 Gowon divides four regions into 12 states
1970 Nigerian civil war ends
1972 Nigeria changes currency from Pound to Naira, introduces metric system
1973 Nigeria switches from left to right-hand driving
1973 Nigeria hosts all Africa Games
1973 Nigeria inaugurates National Youth Service Corps
1974 Gowon reneges on planned handover in 1976
1975 Birth of Economic Community of West African States
1975 Murtala Muhammed topples Gowon in military coup
1976 Murtala Muhammed increases states to 19
1976 Murtala Muhammed killed in a failed military coup, Olusegun Obasanjo takes over
1977 Nigeria hosts 2nd Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture
1979 Obasanjo Hands over power to Shehu Shagari, Second Republic begins
1980 Nigeria hosts and wins African Nations Cup, 1st time
1983 Gen. Muhammadu Buhari topples Shagari in a coup
1985 Gen. Ibrahim Babangida ousts Buhari in military putsch
1985 Nigerian wins 1st global soccer title (U-16 FIF/KODAK)
1987 Failed military coup led by Maj. Gen Mamman Vatsa
1987 Gen Ibrahim Babangida increases states to 21
1990 Failed military coup led by Maj. Gideon Orkar
1990 Nigeria spearheads formation of ECOMOG
1991 Ibrahim Babangida creates 9 more states, totalling 30
1993 Babangida reneges on hangover plan, cancels polls
1993 Ernest Shonekan assumes office as interim head of state
1993 Gen. Sani Abacha seizes power from Shonekan
1995 Commonwealth sanctions Nigeria
1995 Government announces aborted 'coup' against Abacha
1996 Abacha increases states to 36
1996 Nigeria wins 1st Olympic gold in long jump soccer
1998 Abacha dies, Abdusalami Abubakar assumes office as head of state
1999 Abdusalami cedes power to Olusegun Obasanjo: elected
1999 Nigeria hosts world youth soccer championship
2000 Nigeria co-hosts African Nations Cup with Ghana
2001 Olusegun Obasanjo and other African leaders form NEPAD
2003 President Obasanjo's PDP wins parliamentary majority
2003 Nigeria's 1st satellite, NigeriaSat-1, launched by Russian rocket
2006 President Obasanjo pays off Nigeria's foreign debts
2007 Umaru Yar'Adua of the ruling PDP is elected
2010 Umaru Yar'Adua dies. His Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan becomes President
2011 National and State Elections returns Goodluck Jonathan as President.
(Source: The New Nigeria, 1960-2010, Golden Jubilee Edition, Nigeria High Commission, Ottawa, Canada)

Great Potential, faulty Foundations

The parliamentary system of government inherited from the British was meant to reflect, not just British influence on Nigeria’s style of governance, but a reflection of the British geographic, cultural regionalism of England, Scotland and Wales…3 nations living in cordial harmony. The military incursion of 1966 never gave the opportunity for the development of this parliamentary system into maturity. Instead, without appropriate study or consent of the constituent parts of Nigeria, an American-style presidential system was imposed in 1979. Though the military administrations of Yakubu Gowon and Murtala Muhammad introduced nationalist policies and well conceived national developmental plans, the instability within the military establishment, leading to coups or fear of coups meant more emphasis was spent in building security apparatus, than economic potential. The National Youth Service Corp. (NYSC), the National Institute in Kuru, and other leadership and nation building institutions were born in the 1970s, after the Civil War, as well as the Unity schools and many of the Federal tertiary institutions, though started by the civilian leadership since 1960. These institutions though laudable, could not overcome the loss in social etiquette, moral development, inconsistent social re-engineering and lack of proper integration of the civilian class into governance that comes with military ruler-ship at a time the world’s paradigm shifts favoured democratic leadership.

The military, though, were singled out for their aggressive support for independence of several southern African nations, and contributions to peace keeping duties in Eastern Africa. Nigeria lead the 22-member Monrovia Group of African countries to merge with the Casablanca Group of five to form the OAU. In the 1975 Nigeria was pivotal in the formation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The military leadership is noted for bringing security to the West Africa sub-region by creating ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Nigeria’s role in initiating the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD), African Development Bank (ADB), and others, were also majorly made possible during the Military’s ruler-ship of Nigeria.

A Militarised National Conscience

However, according to the information listed above that the military, since their adventurous foray into governance since 1966, have had 30 years of direct colonisation of Nigeria, impressing upon our national psyche, an intolerance for democratic practices, a disdain for education and human freedoms, impositions of many undebated, and subsequently faulty policies and entrenchment of blatant corruption. It was indicative that the military was neither taught, nor prepared for governance of a civil populace. The continued ruler-ship of the military since the founding years of Nigeria affected the confidence and reduced the efficiency of the political class, and broke the back of the emerging democratic practices initially experimented upon by the regional parliamentarians of independent Nigeria.

The military, in attempting to impose democracy, under duress, would only create structures with faulty foundations, imposed upon the populace, and designed to be weak. By extension, the democratic systems that ensued produced a political class that was militaristic in their thinking, practices and procedures. Imposing candidates, demanding utter loyalty, rigging elections, denying the people from directly electing their choice candidates. It is not surprising therefore, that the political organisations created after the incursion of the military into governance were sponsored, ruled or controlled by the military class. The effect of all these is that governance wasn’t people oriented, and the Human Development Indices produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) attests to this.


A History of Majoring in Mediocrity

The UNDP has for decades, kept indices of human development, set standards for national development and created frameworks for the achievement of set goals agreed by members of the United Nations. These indices help us to see at a glance if there is true development in a nation of continental sub-region. It also helps leaders of nations in determining policies and leadership styles that will help bring forth stated developmental needs and goals. Let’s look at the indices of Nigeria’s development since 1960.

Yima Sen (Challenges and Prospects of Nigeria’s Development at 50), in a paper delivered last year in the United States paints the picture properly.
“Nigeria’s development has been negated by poor leadership, corruption and attendant poverty incidence ( that is number of those spending less than one United States dollar a day) which has risen from 27 percent in 1980 to 65 percent in 1996. This has become the subject of contention between international data sources (70 percent) and local Nigerian estimates (56 percent) more recently. Poverty incidence is also assessed on the basis of educational performance and literacy, general health indicators and services, food security and safety as well as safe drinking water, and life expectancy. Viewed as a whole, therefore on the basis of those indicators that determine whether states succeed or fail, Nigeria has fared badly (Northern Union, 2007).

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its Human Development Report for 2009, Human Development Index (HDI) scores have increased in all regions in the world progressively. HDI provides a more complete picture of a country’s development than other indicators like GDP, according to UNDP. HDI looks mainly at human development from life expectancy, adult literacy, purchasing power parity (PPP) and mainly human development indicators. And these have been Nigeria’s scores in recent years, according to the report: Life expectancy – 47.7 percent; adult literacy rate (percentage of age 15 and above) - 72 percent; and GDP per capital, that is PPP US$ 1, 969, all for the year 2007.

Additional worrisome data include the possible loss of about US$ 500 billion from Nigeria’s wealth due to corruption, from 1960 to date, based on analysis and estimates by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Other data are that out of 100 universities in Africa, only seven Nigerian universities are included as among the best 100 in Africa, with the best, University of Ilorin, ranked at 55. The same seven universities make the global list at the ranking of University of Ilorin -5484; Obafemi Awolowo University – 5,756; University of Jos; 5,882; University of Lagos- 5,936; University of Benin- 6,324; University of Ibadan – 6,425; and University of Nigeria – 7,170 (Eze, 2010).

Also Nigeria’s HDI rating of 157 out of 177 countries for 2007/2008 and its position on the failed state index of 15 out of 177 states likely to fail by the Fund for Peace in 2009 are not encouraging of its progress towards a successful state that can guarantee the well being of its citizens. Then most recently, out of 100 “best” countries in the world, as determined by Newsweek magazine, in its August 23 and 30, 2010 edition and based on certain criteria, Nigeria is placed 99th just before Burkina Faso at 100. This is a poor showing for the “Giant of Africa”, which is beaten by the following African countries in a descending order: Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Botswana, South Africa, Algeria, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Uganda, Zambia and Cameroon.”

An analysis of the HDI indices noted above, and comparisons of Nigeria’s rank with selected developing nations, gives cause for ponder. Many nations with better ranking than Nigeria are already regarded as “Failed States”.

Country HDI Rank - HDI Index
Mozambique 165 0.284
Guatemala 116 0.560
Tanzania 148 0.398
Yemen 133 0.439
Indonesia 108 0.600
Gambia 151 0.390
Sri Lanka 91 0.658
BurkinaFaso161 0.305
Ghana 130 0.467
Niger 167 0.261
Nepal 138 0.428
Kenya 128 0.470
Turkey 83 0.679
Mali 160 0.309
China 89 0.663
Bangladesh 129 0.469
Cambodia 124 0.494
Cameroon 131 0.460
India 119 0.519
Congo 126 0.489
Colombia 79 0.689
Togo 139 0.428
Nigeria 142 0.423
Pakistan 125 0.490
Senegal 144 0.411
Côte'dIvoire 149 0.397
Haiti 145 0.404
Guinea 156 0.340
Mauritania 136 0.433
Rwanda 152 0.385
Sierra Leone 158 0.317
Chad 163 0.295
Ethiopia 157 0.328
Angola 146 0.403
Zimbabwe 169 0.140
Liberia 162 0.300
C.A.R. 159 0.315
Burundi 166 0.282

The tragedy of the 142nd ranking of Nigeria, below Mauritania, Congo, Cameroon, Togo, Kenya, Ghana, and obviously, South Africa and all of the North African Countries…is that, we generate a far greater income than many of these countries combines, but all of $500billion plus in oil revenues, and a $2trillion economy was mostly mismanaged or stolen. And this falls squarely on the failure of leadership.

But this leadership failure is on four fronts:
-The Political Class
-The Civil Service
-The Religious & Cultural Leadership
-The Corporate Class

The Failure of Political Leadership
The political class, which is directly involved in formulating policies and managing the economy, and providing security and building and maintain infrastructure has consistently underperformed, though this is expedited by the weakness and collusion of the Civil Service. The political class has tended in Nigeria, to promote classism and elitism, and maintenance of feudal systems of societal engagement. The abundance of western education hasn’t fundamentally changed the attitude of the class of elites that recycle leadership of the nation’s central and communal governments. It’s been a system of class networking to maintain the status quo, in which the citizenry are permanently expected to receive the crumbs of the national “cake”. This class has never engaged the citizens in the governance of the nation, and has shown a lack of ideological tenacity in protecting the commonwealth of the nation. Instead, they seek position, whatever the platform, and therefore have little or no passion to defend or uphold any principles or economics or sustainable development for the common good. The uncertainty of the systems of governance and permanence of policies also mean those who gravitate towards power often feel insecure and tend to be corruptible, in an effort to exploit the system within the time frame available. They have shown lack of vision or foresight and a profound lack of commitment to take the nation to a better level than the met it. They are adept at playing the politics of leadership rather than actually leading for common good.

The Failure of The Civil Service
Let me quote Wikipedia extensively on the path through which the Nigerian Civil Service became a partner in following the political class in gradually eroding the development of Nigeria;

” The civil service in 1990 consisted of the federal civil service, the twenty-one autonomous state civil services, the unified local government service, and several federal and state government agencies, including parastatals and corporations. The federal and state civil services were organized around government departments, or ministries, and extra ministerial departments headed by ministers (federal) and commissioners (state), who were appointed by the president and governors, respectively. These political heads were responsible for policy matters. The administrative heads of the ministry were the directors general, formerly called permanent secretaries. The "chief" director general was the secretary to the government and until the Second Republic also doubled as head of the civil service. As chief adviser to the government, the secretary conducted liaison between the government and the civil service.

The major function of the director general, as of all senior civil servants, was to advise the minister or the commissioner directly. In doing so, the director general was expected to be neutral. In the initial periods of military rule, these administrative heads wielded enormous powers. For some time, the military rulers refused to appoint civilian political heads. Even after political heads were appointed, it was years before the era of "super permanent secretaries" to
end. That happened in 1975 when, after Gowon's fall, the civil service was purged to increase its efficiency. Many of the super permanent secretaries lost their jobs, and the subordinate status of permanent secretaries to their political bosses was reiterated. Another consequence of the purge, reinforced subsequently, was the destruction of the civil service tradition of security of tenure. The destruction was achieved by the retirement or dismissal of many who had not attained retirement age.

Until the 1988 reforms, the civil service was organized strictly according to British traditions: it was apolitical, civil servants were expected to serve every government in a nonpartisan way, and the norms of impersonality and hierarchical authority were well entrenched. As the needs of the society became more complex and the public sector expanded rapidly, there was a corresponding need to reform the civil service. The Adebo Commission (1970) and the Udoji Commission (1972) reviewed the structure and orientations of the civil service to make it more efficient. Although these commissions recommended ways of rationalizing the civil service, the greatest problems of the service remained inefficiency and red tape. Again in 1985, a study group headed by Dotun Phillips looked into the problems. It was believed that the 1988 reforms, the most current measures aimed at dealing with the problems of the service as of 1990, were based on this report.

Compared with the 1960s and 1970s, the civil service by 1990 had changed dramatically. It had been politicized to the extent that most top officials openly supported the government of the day. The introduction of the quota system of recruitment and promotion, adherence to the federal-character principle, and the constant interference of the government in the day-to-day operation of the civil service--especially through frequent changes in top officials and massive purges--meant that political factors rather than merit alone played a major role in the civil service.”

The last paragraph has aptly summarized my thinking in this regards.

Religious & Cultural Leadership Failures
As we can see from the terrorism, religious extremism, and the militancy in some regions of Nigeria, it is clear that the kind of leadership provided by these categories of leaders tend towards anarchy, rather than cohesion. They tend towards separatism rather than federalism. Community leaders are forever inspiring crisis rather than building bridges, and developing their communities. They are tend to self-centredness in their leadership style, and prefer to build or extend their empires rather than preserve the unity of the nation state Nigeria. Religious and sectional leaders show a picture to their followers of Nigeria being a mere geographic expression rather than a nation. Therefore, a large number of Nigerians have not been inclined to patriotic service, or lending their skills and potentials to resolve community or national issues. Instead, many of these become security costs to the government of Nigeria, and the subsequent loss of foreign investments and tourism potentials of the nation.

The Failure of Corporate Leadership
Looking at the balance sheets of some of Nigeria’s largest corporations, we will find some entities with asset base larger than many state governments…yet they operate within these states. There are profound opportunities for corporate social responsibility to transform Nigerian communities, yet these corporate leaders would rather exploit the weakness of the public service by providing at a premium, services and products at prohibitive prices. They then tend towards false accounting to reduce taxable income, pay themselves huge salaries, and give next to nothing back to the society. The scandals involving two once respected banking CEOs, and a multinational CEO, where the quest for personal gain was raised to prodigious proportions, are cases in point.

The American spirit of charity, seen in the Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, Bill Gates, etc foundations, showed how it was indeed the private sector that built the United States. It was the private sector that sponsored aggressively economic policies which made America the largest economy in world history. It is the private sector that should be in the vanguard of innovation. It is the private sector that creates, helps, funds, the small businesses that employ the largest number of citizens. It is the private sector that compliments government in subsidizing education, healthcare and activities that help youth development. The failure of leadership of the organized private sector, other than spending money and time in exclusive, unprofitable ventures meant for the benefit of less than 1% of 1% of 150million citizens…that must be the greatest failure.


At 51 Some Pertinent Question For Nigerians

I asked these questions from Nigerians on May 29, and ask still today;

1: Who are we as a people? What common beliefs bind us together? How can we reset these values to create a spirit of patriotism that transcends partisanship, ethnic and religious differences? That is the challenge Nigeria faces at this critical moment in our history.
2: Where are the Nigerian transformational leader (s), who will reach out to the competitive faith based organisations and the diverse traditional institutions, to forge a unified spirit of nationalism, rather than the divisive values systems which characterise our commonwealth, and have created generations of unconnected citizenry, only bound together by common boundaries rather than common destiny?
3: How do we enforce upon our governments the need for greater transparency, holding our political leaders and the civil service accountable to the electorate, post elections? How do we inspire Nigerians to engage the leadership in a way that brings forth the best in the government, for the benefit of all Nigerians?
4: How can we expect honesty and patriotism in leadership if the average citizen, from the ranks of which the political class was once a part of, is averse to hard work, patriotism and personal integrity?
5: In all this, when will we realise that government can do better, but cannot solve all our problems – and parents to have less children, educate them better, discipline them appropriately, and establish their values systems, while teaching them to be patriotic?
6: What are the cardinal values that define our society? Faith in God, Love of Neighbour, Respect for elders, Care for the Community, Loyalty to Country, Integrity and uprightness, Perseverance and Fortitude, Pride in our Cultures, and Love for our Children, Hard work and honesty, Service to Motherland. Where did these disappear to this past few decades?
7: When will we determine, through a free and fair ballot, that the very best of us serve us at the very peak of their competencies? When will we chose leaders based on capability rather than network or net worth? When will cabinet positions be staffed by specialists rather than political loyalists and “quota” systems?
8: How will we be able to hold these leaders accountable for mismanaging our commonwealth, when we have no access to information on how they actually manage them? When will the citizenry demand access to governance and information and their elected representatives?
9: How will we ensure adequate checks and balances in the national and state leadership, when the political leadership is manned by one party system, and esprit-de-corp is the order of the day? When will the political class, under due pressure, see the need to save our resources, invest wisely, stop spending lavishly on themselves, and are driven by purpose and planning in governance?
10: When will our traditional institutions, rather than sit in quiet endorsement of bad leadership, rise to the duty of rebuilding cultural values in their estate, and ensuring the political class that emanates from their domain represents the best of their values? When will our religious leaders promote unity and patriotism to country as much as they promote self and denominationalism?
“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” JFK
11: When will the average Nigerian go beyond the need to seek self gratification, and desire to serve, diligently, without expectation of reward, the country by which they have benefited one way or another? How many of us are actively involved in volunteering activities, outside our religious (with expectation of miracles) cul de sacs? Schools, to be re-modelled, children to be mentored, old people to care for, disaster assistance, combating poverty, building skills in the under-skilled, security in our communities? Of the millions that actively volunteer in religious organisations, how many are deployed to serve their immediate communities?
12: What specific education model are we pursuing? What are our education goals for the Nigerian state, and what measure of feedback do we give to the tax-payers that we are meeting them? What is the root cause of the fall in the standard of education? Language problems? Teaching in-competencies? Lack of concentration by pupils? What study has the Government done to determining the precise academic or sociological cause of the decay in the impartation of knowledge and the acquisition of skills by the taught?
13: Why can’t we have universal healthcare? Why is the ratio of hospitals to patients still well below the WHO recommended average? Where one or so lawmaker’s annual take away can fund an entire health centre in a small community, where is the lawmaker willing to sacrifice a huge chunk of his/her allowances for the healthcare of his constituency? Why is every tax paying citizen, with a valid tax card not entitled to free medical care in government health providers? Why are private corporations, including small businesses not providing health insurance for the staff, at least for medical emergencies, whilst employed?
14: What precisely do the Local Governments do? Their presence as the 3rd tier of government is so negligible they are like glorified community centres and contract sharing institutions. The environment, primary education and local health and road maintenance is part of their duties, but they spend all their time collecting all manner of illegal levies from traders and landlords, giving nothing in return. Where is the purposeful local government head, who pops into people’s homes as a community leaders, listening and proffering solutions to issues and problems in their wards and ensuring visible development in his/her area?
15: Why are our security institutions not bastions of safety, but rather, a group citizens avoid like a plague? The dressing, demeanour and attitude, carriage and proclivity of the average security official cause even more feelings of insecurity among the populace, making crime resolution impossible, and cooperation between the forces and the citizens for overall welfare of the nation nil.
16: Where is the well defined and promoted policy for poverty alleviation, entrepreneurship development and small business assistance in our 3 tiers of government? The true wealth of a nation is the sum total of the wealth of each citizen in the nation. Until we have millions of financially empowered citizens, creating jobs, paying taxes, supporting the GDP in ways that
make oil exports a small part rather than the mainstay of our national wealth. When will there be an aggressive programme to meet the minimum standards for the MDGs set by the UNIDO?
17: When will we reform the civil service thoroughly? We need a leaner, technologically driven, responsive and energetic civil service, able to deliver services that meet with the pace of developmental requirements in this internet age. We need an empowered, well remunerated, and success motivated civil service, where competence is rewarded adequately, and independence from undue pressure by the political class is enshrined in federal and state laws. Corruption is impossible without the active connivance of the civil service…reward the competent civil servant at par with industry, and see corruption take a nose dive.
18: What is the Nigerian foreign policy framework? The US’ main foreign policy is built around protecting democracy, to protect its strategic interests. The Chinese mainstay is protecting its system of governance and its thriving economy. The Russians are majorly interested in ensuring relevance in the shifting alignments of international power. Back in the 1970s, Nigeria was famous for promoting freedom for the Southern African countries, helping with their independence. Nowadays we have no real voice in anything, hemmed down by internal strife, lack of integrity in political leadership, corruption and unpatriotism.
19: What form of economic model are we running? Are we proactively developing all the subsectors of our economy, or is the government happy to fund its programmes based entirely on oil exports? Are there more profit centred government services, or are they all cost operations? Do we have the right number of government agencies and ministries, or we can save costs by merging or scrapping some. Are there government operations that can be privatised completely, while ensuring the job security of the staff? Can more programmes be outsourced, or is the government able to save on costs by in-house operations?
20: Can the armed forces respond to the new global threats of terrorism? Is there internal security, with all the sectional and religious agitations that seem to have gone out of control? Is government proactively working for the resolutions of these issues, or has it lost control of the initiative?


Laying Another Foundation.

I will borrow from my previous writing again, and state the following analogy, for how to rebuild our nation for a firmer foundation over the next 50 years.
With all respect to our members with Architectural or Building Engineering degrees, and seeking their input if my summation is in error in those lines, I will attempt to use the building of a house as an analogy of our nation in development.
A house is a structure that consists of 4 primary dimensions;

The Foundation
The Pillars
The Walls
The Roof.

Each is critical to the full development of the house and they are built in subsequence. That is, the foundation comes first, then the pillars, then the walls and finally the roof. Furthermore some necessary sub-structures come together for the aesthetics of the house to become manifest. Like;

Windows
Plumbing
Electricity
Furniture

In between all these is an instrument called the “Scaffolding”.

Now the following indicate the usefulness of these dimensions to our house of Nigeria.

Our Vision and Values are our Foundations
Our Laws are our Pillars
Our Citizenship is our Walls
Our Faith is our Roof

The windows, plumbing, electricity, furniture are all the social services and amenities (Programmes) that we require to enjoy the beauty of the building but they do not define the building. The scaffolding is a tool that helps whitewash (brand) the building, but its absence will not affect the integrity of the structure.
What has gone wrong in Nigeria is that the four foundational dimensions stated above were never developed in proper order. They were not developed by the competent and certainly were never developed with an eye for the destiny of this nation. We need to move towards finding a new ideology for Nigeria, which encompassed prepared leadership, a commons sense of vision and direction, and a common commitment to make a great nation out of our peoples. This may not happen left solely in the hands of the political class, or the civil service, or the religious or sectional leaders, or the business leaders…it’s a job that requires us all coming together, from Town Hall Meetings, to a National Conference. It’s the reasonable thing to begin to contemplate.

Let’s build a virile nation, Brick By Brick…

God Bless Nigeria.

©George H. Ashiru Convener, NIGERIA: Town Hall Meetings Project www.manofcontrasts.blogspot.com

NIGERIA: Brick By Brick –Bringing Hope To A Weary Nation (1)

NIGERIA: Brick By Brick – Bringing Hope To A Weary Nation (1)
- By George H. Ashiru, Convener, Town Hall Meetings Project (THMP)


“Leading America at this critical moment in history requires more than policies and ideas. To meet our challenges, we must summon our common faith in American values –the sense of who we are as a people, the common beliefs that bind us together, the spirit of patriotism and service that bridges divisions of partisanship and ideology”…Barrack Obama.

Que: Who are we as a people? What common beliefs bind us together?
How can we reset these values to create a spirit of patriotism that
transcends partisanship, ethnic and religious differences. That is the
challenge, Nigeria faces at this critical moment in our history.

“Change comes, not from the top down, but from the bottom up, and fewer are closer to the people than our Churches, Synagogues, Temples, and Mosques. Washington needs to draw on their expertise and commitment –not as a replacement for government action, but as a compliment to it” –Obama

Que: Where is the Nigerian transformational leader (s), who will reach out to the competitive faith based organisationsand the diverse traditional institutions, to forge a unified spirit of nationalism, rather than the divisive values systems which characterise our commonwealth, and have created generations of unconnected citizenry, only bound together by common boundaries rather than common destiny?

Que: How do we enforce upon our governments the need for greater transparency, holding our political leaders and the civil service accountable to the electorate, post elections? How do we inspire Nigerians to engage the leadership in a way that brings forth the best in the government, for the benefit of all Nigerians?

Que: How can we expect honesty and patriotism in leadership if the average citizen, from the ranks of which the political class was once a part of, is averse to hard work, patriotism and personal integrity?

Que: In all this, when will we realise that government can do better, but cannot solve all our problems –and parents to have less children, educate them better, discipline them appropriately, and establish their values systems, while teaching them to be patriotic?

Que: When will we teach our children never to allow television images to determine their dress and behavioural codes? That sons should treat women with respect, and daughters should not turn themselves to objects of voyeurism. That evidence of manhood is not being able to father a child, but to raise one. That evidence of feminity is not bearing children, but ensuring they grow to be responsible citizens?

Que: What are the cardinal values that define our society? Faith in God, Love of Neighbour, Respect for elders, Care for the Community, Loyalty to Country, Integrity and uprightness, Perseverance and Fortitude, Pride in our Cultures, and Love for our Children, Hard work and honesty, Service to Motherland. Where did these disappear to this past few decades?

Que: When will we determine, through a free and fair ballot, that the very best of us serve us at the very peak of their competencies? When will we chose leaders based on capability rather than network or net worth? When will cabinet positions be staffed by specialists rather than political loyalists and “quota” systems?

Que: How will we be able to hold these leaders accountable for mismanaging our commonwealth, when we have no access to information on how they actually manage them? When will the citizenry demand access to governance and information and their elected representatives?

Que: How will we ensure adequate checks and balances in the national and state leadership, when the political leadership is manned by one party systems, and esprit-de-corp is the order of the day? When will the political class, under due pressure, see the need to save our resources, invest wisely, stop spending lavishly on themselves, and are driven by purpose and planning in governance?

Que: When will our traditional institutions, rather than sit in quiet endorsement of bad leadership, rise to the duty of rebuilding cultural values in their estate, and ensuring the political class that emanates from their domain represents the best of their values? When will our religious leaders promote unity, and patriotism to country as much as they promote self and denominationalism?


“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”
-John F. Kennedy

Que: When will the average Nigerian go beyond the need to seek self gratification, and desire to serve, diligently, without expectation of reward, the country by which they have benefited one way or another? How many of us are actively involved in volunteering activities, outside our religious (with expectation of miracles) cul de sacs? Schools, to be re-modelled, children to be mentored, old people to care for, disaster assistance, combating poverty, building skills in the under-skilled, security in our communities? Of the millions that actively volunteer in religious organisations, how many are deployed to serve their immediate communities?

Que: What specific education model are we pursuing? What are our education goals for the Nigerian state, and what measure of feedback do we give to the tax-payers that we are meeting them? What is the root cause of the fall in the standard of education? Language problems? Teaching in-competencies? Lack of concentration by pupils? What study has the Government done to determining the precise academic or sociological cause of the decay in the impartation of knowledge and the acquisition of skills by the taught?

Que: Why can’t we have universal healthcare? Why is the ratio of hospitals to patients still well below the WHO recommended average? Where one or so lawmaker’s annual take away can fund an entire health centre in a small community, where is the lawmaker willing to sacrifice a huge chunk of his/her allowances for the healthcare of his constituency? Why is every tax paying citizen, with a valid tax card not entitled to free medical care in government health providers? Why are private corporations, including small businesses not providing health insurance for the staff, at least for medical emergencies, whilst employed?

Que: What precisely do the Local Governments do?Their presence as the 3rdtier of government is so negligible they are like glorified community centres and contract sharing institutions. The environment, primary education and local health and road maintenance is part of their duties, but they spend all their time collecting all manner of illegal levies from traders and landlords, giving nothing in return. Where is the purposeful local government head, who pops into people’s homes as a community leaders, listening and proffering solutions to issues and problems in their wards and ensuring visible development in his/her area?

Que: Why are our security institutions not a bastions of safety, but rather, a group citizens avoid like a plague? The dressing, demeanour and attitude, carriage and proclivity of the average security official cause even more feelings of insecurity among the populace, making crime resolution impossible, and cooperation between the forces and the citizens for overall welfare of the nation nil.

Que: Where is the well defined and promoted policy for poverty alleviation, entrepreneurship development and small business assistance in our 3 tiers of government? The true wealth of a nation is the sum total of the wealth of each citizen in the nation. Until we have millions of financially empowered citizens, creating jobs, paying taxes, supporting the GDP in ways that make oil exports a small part rather than the mainstay of our national wealth. When will there be an aggressive programme to meet the minimum standards for the MDGs set by the UNIDO?

Que: When will we reform the civil service thoroughly? We need a leaner, technologically driven, responsive and energetic civil service, able to deliver services that meet with the pace of developmental requirements in this internet age. We need an empowered, well remunerated, and success motivated civil service, where competence is rewarded adequately, and independence from undue pressure by the political class is enshrined in federal and state laws. Corruption is impossible without the active connivance of the civil service…reward the competent civil servant at par with industry, and see corruption take a nose dive.

Que: What is the Nigerian foreign policy framework? The US’ main foreign policy is built around protecting democracy, to protect its strategic interests. The Chinese mainstay is protecting its system of governance and its thriving economy. The Russians are majorly interested in ensuring relevance in the shifting alignments of international power. Back in the 1970s, Nigeria was famous for promoting freedom for the Southern African countries, helping with their independence. Nowadays we have no real voice in anything, hemmed down by internal strife, lack of integrity in political leadership, corruption and unpatriotism.

Que: What form of economic model are we running? Are we proactively developing all the subsectors of our economy, or is the government happy to fund its programmes based entirely on oil exports? Are there more profit centredgovernment services, or are they all cost operations? Do we have the right number of government agencies and ministries, or we can save costs by merging or scrapping some. Are there government operations that can be privatisedcompletely, while ensuring the job security of the staff? Can more programmes be outsourced, or is the government able to save on costs by in-house operations?

Que: Can the armed forces respond to the new global threats of terrorism? Is there internal security, with all the sectional and religious agitations that seem to have gone out of control. Is government proactively working for the resolutions of these issues, or has it lost control of the initiative?

What Is Your Role In Shaping A Virile Nation?
-Go back to the listed value systems, and abiding by them and teaching others to do similarly, and laying a better foundation for a patriotic and inspired citizenry.
-Be part of progressive causes that are involved in citizen empowerments, entrepreneurship and skill impartation, for economic development.
-Engage the civil service, and political leadership in a non-aggressive but firm manner, in order to ascertain use or misuse of resources, and providing ideas, solutions, on moving governance forward.
-Volunteering our competencies in areas not covered by government programmes and funding, and working to ensure the immediate community we live or work is incrementally better over the years
-Encouraging young people to read/study more, especially historical, anthropological, literature in order to improve their language skills and creativity.
-Ensuring the reduction of the misuse of influence by religious leaders to encourage violence and lack of patriotism, countering with balanced arguments as well as demonstration of empathy for people with differing ideals.
-Using the electoral system to ensure the emergence of virile leadership.
-Helping to develop and formulate policy for governance and organising town hall meetings to get the participation of the citizens in enforcing such policies.
-Actively engaging the local security agencies, joining community development associations and police relations committees and contributing to enforcing peace in our environment.
-Join the Red Cross, NEMA, FRSC, etc and other governmental/non-governmental agencies, in order to be available to provide your competence for emergency relief, healthcare, traffic operations, etc.
-Volunteer to provide support and mentorship for children in need, orphans, widows, the physically challenged, the academically challenged, etc.
-Take up a mentorship role for 2-10 younger persons, where you can help with guidance, encouragement, help with school work or impartation of viable skills, etc.
-Stop complaining about everything, and start looking for ways to help fix things.
-Buy quality Nigerian made products to encourage local manufacturers.
-Accept invites to political party meetings (not just during election periods), to be able to influence the intra-party attitude to governance
-Accept to serve in political office, if in good faith, you are passionate to, competent and well prepared to deliver.
-Bring shortfalls in governance to the attention of the concerned, using the internet, social networking sites, websites or any other published means of getting the attention of the leaders.
-(to be continued)



Lets build a virile nation - Brick By Brick

George H Ashiru

MARRIAGE: What's Was It Designed For? (Vox Pop)

Here are your own published opinions on what Marriage is, and what it is created to achieve in mankind...

#
Mary Achor-Ogungbola
Reasons for marriage
1. For companionship and intimacy: I'm not sure one can be very intimate (on all levels i.e. physical, emotional, spiritual, financial and any other "al" there might be) with more than one person at a time. So, the joini...ng of two people together is supposed to engender this attribute for the satisfaction/fulfillment of the parties involved.
2. To prevent sexual irresponsibilities (fornication and adultery) in both men and women. Marriage is honourable for sexual activites (the bed undefiled). The man cleaving to his own wife and the wife cleaving to her own husband. It makes sense for organisation within a human society (not lower animals) and makes for sanity. This is also important as it creates trust within the society. In this sense, polygamy can be viewed as a means of encouraging sexual indiscipline among the male folk.
3. It is an avenue for godly children to be raised. It is an avenue for young ones to experience the love of a father and a mother (which can be compared to that of our heavenly father) and also to be nurtured with the right prinicples and values. This will build young men and women who are not dysfunctional and can relate to the society in which they live with a balanced outlook/attitude.
4. Lastly but more importantly, marriage is an example of the creator's love for his creation. It's a mortal symbol of his immortal joining of himself with his church. Loving and then sacrificing himself for the sake of the church. No act of selfishness is seen in this act, purely based on LOVE!See more

#
Beloved Apostle Bimpe
ummn... Marriage!
Now that I am out of it, I understand it a lot better.
When I was young, it was a status that must be acquired. mandated by the society, by which your parent would be honoured in it. Hence, it you fail to marry at a particu...lar point in time, it becomes a curse; A TABOO RESTING ON YOU!

At that time, you not only go out to shop for who will marry you, but you go parading for someone to come along to your parents. For this reason, every man or woman that you encounter become a look alive groom or an eligible husband, never minding compatibility and consequences of failure in the near future together!

All you look forward to is the ceremony and the exhibition of ringed finger; showcasing you are now Mrs. somebody.

However, God ordained the yoking of man and woman from the beginning in His will to achieve certain purposes.

It began with the creation of man(Adam) in His image.
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."Gen 1:26.

The primary reason for the creation of man was to take the place of God's responsibility over other creatures. At some point, after the creation of man, God reasoned that man had no perfect companion among other creatures after Adam named them. "And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him."-Gen.2:19-20

"And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him."-Gen. 2:18.

"And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."-Gen.2:21-25.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."-Genesis.1:27-28.

From the above set words of God, it is clear that God commanded all other creatures out of earth with their breath in it, but He made man He carefully molded to be Him, and He produced the woman out of the man that the two might find it convenient to reason as one. A COMPANIONSHIP MADE SO PERFECT!

I HEREBY SAY THAT, MARRIAGE OUGHT TO BE A YOKING OF A PART, THE FEMALE, ORIGINALLY PRODUCED FROM THE PRINCIPAL(THE MALE) FOR THE PURPOSE OF LIVING COMPANIONSHIP AFTER THE MINDSET OF THE CREATOR TO MAKE EASY FOR MAN IN ACCOMPLISHING PURPOSE AND LIVING OUT THE BLESSINGS OF FRUITFULNESS, MULTIPLICATION & REPLENISHING THE EARTH!

Having said this, I was to say that our parents thought well by looking forward to their children getting married some day, but care must be taken in making growing up children understand the purpose of marriage in the original plan of God.

For what the sinful nature of man has made of marriage institution, you find out that, marriage has become a different thing from the original insight of God and it is a reason marriages are to achieve purpose of compliment to fulfillment today.

Now that I had been in and out of marriage, now grace to know my God, I believe, marriage is a gift from God to humanity, and one will only partake of the fulfillment when you live uprightly and keep the company with the upright. The grooming you have in life and the the association you keep goes a long way to determine the man or woman that will cross your path.See more

#
Adejuwon J-One Anjoorin
Mary Anchor Ogungbola has said it all!

The only addition more that I have is marriage is also for the mutual fulfillment of destiny. God gives a man to a woman and vice versa so that each will complement the other's strengths, talents, weakn...esses. They will sharpen each other's countenance(s). Keep each other focused. They will be the iron that sharpeneth iron. They will become the three fold cord (with God) that cannot be easily broken. And they will be blessed for when one stumbles, the other will help raise him up. The mutual fulfillment of destiny is also a key reason for marriage!See more

#
Kemi Jorge-Oyewusi
Mary Anchor wrote it all and then Adejuwon finished it up with what could have been my addendum.

Relationship is what God is all about. God is relationship and His Power is released in and by relationshipPs133. God created Man for fellowship... (relationship). God has likened Christ's relationship to and with the Church to that of a husband and a wife, why? Lets look at what The Word says:
He says a husband must love his wife and the wife must submit and they should live in unity eph5:21-25, Gen2:24.
He says the husband must be willing to sacrifice his all, even his life to make sure the wife fulfils her destiny of purity and glory Eph5:25-28.
He says the husband and wife must not fail in coming together (knowing themselves) frequently 1Cor7:3-5.
He says the coming together of the husband and wife as one flesh(in flesh and as one entity) is a mystery.

Marriage is a great mystery that typifies the Mystery of Christ. God uses marriage to help us have an experiencial understanding of INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. Marriage is a covenant. It speaks of the covenant we have with Christ. Covenants are binding relationships engaged for mutual benefit. Every covenant should be carefuly contemplated before being cut. Both parties should be rock solid sure that concerned parties can deliver on the terms. In the marriage covenant one is to see clearly how one can strengthen the other's weakness' and vice versa. The one compliments the other so that they both can FUNCTION AT MAXIMUM CAPACITY. So as we compliment eachother, we benefit eachother.
Intimate relationship with God is a coupling together with God. A deep connection of complete surrender to His will. This relationship is one of complete trust and deep love, so ought marriage to be. We coupulate, we get to experience & understand intimacy in Him & we release power that touches others positively & radiates His Glory.
We are on the face of the earth to fill the earth with His Glory. Marriage relationship is God's Power flowing & touching the whole world. See more

#
Tee-Kay Campbell
‎@ Beloved A. Bimpe, hmmnn. Very deep! like Adejuwon said, we'll like u 2 share ur experience with us. As we know, d rate of divorce is on d rise now & dat's.. frightening. @ our bro George.. lol, ultimately, marriage is all about love & Go...d is love. If one has true love, one'll trust, be patient ,sincere, understanding, kind, show love, give, put d spouse 1st after God, support his/her vision, crown d marriage with & base it on God... Once we understand dat we cant successfully handle marriage by our strenght but trust God 4 wisdom & we play our parts, i believe most marriages be intact.See more

#
Tee-Kay Campbell
In order not to drift from d question, marriage was designed to improve our relationship with God & spouse + to multiply, train & mould us. Though we're not yet married, this is our take.

#
Theunis J van Rensburg
I have not read the other comments to try write from the gut, will read the others in short while... so here goes:

"In my opinion marriage is in essence a covenant of grace that needs Grace to thrive. It is not a contract at all and you can ...trust me on that, I happen to have a law degree to prove it. If you think marriage is a contract you are in the dwang from the first step!

Blessed marriages are also interestingly not two-sided covenants, but rather a set of two one-sided covenants, stating: "I commit to love and only you, forever and unconditionally..."

Marriages are also not contracts in the roman-dutch sense in that they do not constitute a state of ownership. That has somehow crept into some marriages, but it is actually called slavery and cowards practice it. If you say you model this ownership after some god or religion, I say your god is then also a coward, simple.

The community in marriage works best in simulation of the perichoresis principle - or circuminsession - meaning a state of mutual inter-penetration and indwelling, which is why sex that serves as a sacrament of this perichoresis is sacred and belongs in the covenant. Sex is a symbol of the safe state of "being one" or incarnation. Idiots cheat their wives or husbands in this regard and if for some reason of a god or religion you feel justified in cheating your wife or husband I will also say your god is then an idiot, simple too. The same applies if said god or religion models marriage as a place where a partner can be controlled, manipulated, dominated, raped or any other form of execution of ownership.

True love does not have to serve, it wants to. True love does not have to lay its life down for another, it chooses to. True love does not have to be loyal, it desires to.

It is a mystery, I always remind my wife she belongs to me, but I do not own her. This I say with a sparkle in my eye!!!"See more
Friday at 10:11 · LikeUnlike

#
Favour Arit Onobo
After creation God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone”. I will make him an help meet for him. Note the word ‘alone.’ That means loneliness is not good. And the help God wanted to offer the man is not a helpmeet nor a helpmat...e (ie servant), but two words- a help meet for him. That is a help fit or suitable for him. The word meet in the original means a front, a part opposite, a counterpart, or mate. Man’s companion, or help, was to correspond to him. Each was to be suited to the other’s needs.

This help could not be found among the creatures which he had already made. He therefore caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam. And He took one of his ribs, and made a woman, and brought her unto the man. Again notice that God did not make man after the order of the lower animals, but “in His own image.” Neither did He choose man’s companion, or “help” from some other order of beings, but made her from man- of the same substance. And He took this substance, not from man’s feet, that he might have an excuse to degrade, enslave, or trample upon her, nor from man’s head, that woman might assume authority over man, but from man’s side, from over his heart, the seat of affection, that woman might stand at his side as man’s equal, and, side by side with him, together, under God, work out the purpose and destiny of the race. Man- the strong, the noble, the dignified. Woman- the weaker, the sympathetic, the loving.

It was designed not only for the purpose of peopling the earth and perpetuating the race, but to promote social order and human happiness, to prevent irregular affection. When the divine origin of marriage is recognized, and the divine principles controlling it are obeyed, nmarriage is indeed a blessing. But when these are disregarded, untold evils are sure tofollow. That which, rightly used, is of greatest blessing, when abused becomes the greatest curse. May that not be our portion IJN. Let marriage be had in honour among all- (Heb 134)

#
Adetunji O. O. Basorun
Marriage should be a union in HARMONY giving JOY (or HAPPINESS) and PEACE!

#
Theunis J van Rensburg
To expand on what Favour posted...

"When God creates Eve, he calls her an 'ezer kenegdo'. "It is not good for the man to be alone, I shall make him a [ezer kenegdo]" (Gen. 2:18 Alter). This phrase is notoriously difficult to translate.

The ...various attempts we have in English tend to be "helper" or "companion" or the notorious "help meet." Why are these translations so incredibly wimpy, boring, flat?Disappointing? What is a help meet, anyway? What little girl dances through the house singing "One day I shall be a help meet?" Companion? A dog can be a GREAT companion. Helper? Sounds like Hamburger Helper.

Hebrew scholar Robert Alter is getting close when he translates it "sustainer beside him."

The word ezer is used only 20 other places in the entire Old Testament. And in every other instance the person being described is God himself, when you need him to come through for you desperately.

God is your only hope. Your ezer. If he is not there beside you, you are dead. A better translation therefore of ezer would be "life-saver." Kenegdo means alongside, or opposite to, a counterpart.

You see, the life God calls us to is not a safe life. Ask Joseph, Abraham, Moses, Deborah, Esther - any of the friends of God from the Old Testament. Ask Mary and Lazarus, ask Peter, James and John, ask Priscilla and Aquila - any of the friends of God in the New Testament. God calls us to a life involving frequent risks and many dangers. Why else would we need him to be our ezer? You don't need a life-saver if your mission is couch potato. You need an ezer when your life is in constant danger.

That longing in the heart of a woman to share life together as a great adventure - that comes straight from the heart of God, who also longs for this. He does not want to be an option in our lives. He does not want to be an appendage, a tag-along. Neither does any woman. God is essential. Eve is essential. She has an irreplaceable role to play."

(Adapted from "Captivating" by the Eldridges p 31-33)See more

#
Adetunji O. O. Basorun
Er ...
Guys!, I usually like to keep things simple (Probably 'cos I recall someone saying that "the Mastery of a subject is shown by stating it simply").
All the 'academics' is good, but my focus is the Universal view of What Marriage is desi...gned for.
If it is not HARMONIOUS, then it's probably not even a Marriage in the first place.
If it denies you your JOY and PEACE, should you continue making that scarifice?
If u're a cliffhanger and ur partner is a sky diver, and this works for both of U, then that's great.
On the other hand, if U can't both enjoy a simple conversation together, then y'all need to re-evaluate the nature of your union.See more

#
Bimpe Olayinka-Oluwayemi Success
The institution of marriage was designed to achieve God’s purposes, fulfill, and to enjoy our lives on earth. First God created Man (Adam) in order to express and demonstrate His love for mankind, and also to enjoy our fellowship with Him. ...His compassionate heart and love for man made Him to create a woman (Eve) for Adam to fill the vacuum of loneliness as the bible records: "…It is not good that man should be alone: I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18). So the first and most important reason for marriage is 1. Companionship. Companionship encompasses fellowship between the two people in marriage. Just as God enjoys our fellowship with HIM, husbands and wives should enjoy fellowship with each other and they should be each other's best friends. There cannot be good fellowship without proper communication so this is equally important. Also one cannot fellowship alone and we need company to be able to carry out our lifelong purposes. “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labour” (Ecclesiastes 4:9). You learn and understand each other through fellowship and communication, which subsequently develops to intimacy, one that an outsider will find difficult to break. This is of course the goal of the relationship between husband and wife. Obedience to the word of God is the key to enjoying each other. It is what holds the marriage together. Each person must understand one another's role. ‘Wives submit yourselves unto YOUR OWN husbands, as unto the LORD. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and He is the saviour of the body” (Ephesians 5:22-23) "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it;” (Ephesians 5:25). The woman was created as “an help meet”, therefore support for your husband is one of the keys to a successful marriage.
2. Another reason for marriage is to prevent the act of sexual responsibility ordained by God, from occurring outside of marriage. The marriage is between one man and one woman, not one man and many women, neither one woman and many men. God specifically said after the creation of Adam and Eve, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall CLEAVE unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). The two becoming one has spiritual implications. It refers to the sexual relationship between the man and his wife which God ordained for procreation so as to increase and multiply the world. Becoming one means no one should come between the two that has become one. If you are one and someone or something comes between, then there will be a serious damage! Or how do you try to separate what has become ONE, you will either have to tear apart, severe or cut! This was designed by God for man to carry out the work started at creation by increasing and multiplying as we see in His commandment in Genesis 1:28 “ Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth…”, it was to be done as husband and wife NOT outside of marriage. As God enjoys fellowship with his creation, the more we are the more fellowship He enjoys and the more love He expresses and subsequently, the more blessings He pours down on us. So for procreation purpose God ordained the institution of marriage. It is therefore a blessing to be one of the channels of continuing the work of God on earth by getting married.See more

#
Asher Adedire
Marriage: 2 good halves coming 2gether to form a perfect whole.

GHA Words On Marble II.

You can tell when a person is living in God's Grace. They have peace in their hearts and are at peace with their neighbours. They're quick to show mercy and slow to condemn.

Nothing kills idealism more than poverty. Yet, it's through lack, that the passion for idealism is tested.

Innovation is one heck of a status quo changer...little wonder people at the helm of affairs want more of the same.

Procrastination...gives your rival a head start.

God said His people should pray if they want change...the people argue, they have prayed, and its time for action...and God retorted, when did His people pray? It is only the fervent prayer of the righteous that avails...not that of the syncretic, hypocritical zealots...God wins.

The Messenger and the Method may be different, but as long as the Message remains the same, then it is well...don't divide the Body...Heaven doesn't have compartments.

Bitterness, the root of unforgiveness. Love, the root of mercy.

The best way to obey the 1st Commandment is by obeying the 2nd Commandment.

What's the use running, if you are going up the wrong mountain. STOP! Where you are. Define your purpose, then continue running, in the right direction.

A leader cannot be said to have vision if all his ideas are short term.

Churchianity is not Christianity...the latter is Christlikeness, the other is of no divine consequence.

A woman's love is like a volcano...it gushes out for all to see. A man's love is like an iceberg...its all there, just hidden under the waters...waiting to be melted by the rising heat of a woman's love.

Those who never used to "act" when they were young, will probably never know exactly what to do when they mature. A lesson for the commentators who keep asking others to "take action", but they themselves don't know what "actions" to take.

Athletes are used to opposition. You don't get to be champion without defeating them all. But politicians? That's another matter.

Mercy is not patience. Mercy is total erasure...patience is judgement delayed.

I like it when some say age is just a number - but I don't get why they keep trying to look younger.

Great sprinters know, to get ahead of your rival while on the track, all you need to do is raise your knees and pump the arms. No need to cross lanes and pull down the rival. Politicians should learn from great sprinters.

A winning Sprinter is one who has great acceleration at the start and least deceleration at the finish. You don't win at the start of the race, but at the end. A great start in life is no guarantee of a great finish...let's learn to invest our abilities for a superb finish in life.

Parents have been in the business of looking for spouses for the children since the beginning of the age. See, Adam didn't ask for a wife, but God gave him one anyway.

Methinks when God said "It is not good for Man to be alone"...he had Cain/Abel and Esau/Jacob in mind. Chaps would have decimated themselves from creation if He hadn't given Man a comparable, but delectable alter ego to smoothen the rough edges.

There are many ways to demonstrate love for another: Chastisement is also a way, as is rebuke, and also discipline. But I bet, many still think think lying on a bed full of roses, with Denzel, or Sophia Lauren is the ultimate demonstration of love. If you want to know Love, ask Jesus.

The Audacities...

My inspired piece of writings on audacious patterns of life.

The Audacity of Love: Is a woman telling a potential rival for her man's love..."go try your best, he is not that type of man"

Audacious Love: A convict being rehabilitated in the Church, went on rampage, raped the Pastor's 15 year old daughter...she became pregnant. As the pastor pondered over mixed emotions he heard the Lord say "Remember you just came out of the prison for murder? Love him as I love you, and help him". And the Pastor has adopted the rapist, and is caring for his grandchild. I met him.

An Audacious Seed: Solomon's 1000 Burnt Offerings.

An Audacious Request: "Give me a child or I die".

The Audacity of Calling: Daniel telling a Babylonian king he will surely die - and the king rewards Daniel for his pronouncement.

The Audacity of Judgement: Is God killing, by flooding, the same things He created in Love...Mercy follows repentance - judgement follows disobedience...

The Audacity of Covenant: Is when Hosea pays to "re-purchase" his own wife who had gone back into harlotry...a bargain is a bargain, talan tolo...

The Audacity of Faith: Is leaving your house with a dollar and a mouth full of praises, knowing you are coming back with a bountiful harvest.

The Audacity of Promise: When you become exceedingly prosperous, regardless of which side of the field you are tilling.

The Audacity of Faith: Is when you look at a Mountain, and all you see are Steps to your Glory

The Audacity of Faith: To be still when all around you is storm.

The Audacity of Love: After you're done as a Prodigal, as long as you return, HE still sets up a table before you...in the presence of your enemies. Ps23.

The Audacity of Love: Is when a an innocent Man decides to go to prison on your behalf...J316.

The Audacity of Grace: Is that Jesus revealed His Messianic role to the rejected Samarian woman, even before He was revealed to His 12 chosen Disciples...Come on folks lets go fetch some water. (Grace4Grace)

The Audacity of Grace: Is when a policeman stops you for over-speeding, but rather than giving you a ticket, gives you a cheque.

The Audacity of Faith: Faith is the rocket fuel we need to propel a jet into space, against the pull of gravity.

Christian Leadership For National Empowerment

Leadership For National Empowerment
The Christian’s Role in Nation Building & National Transformation
(Presented At the Trinity House Church Leaders’ Retreat, January 2011)

“A nation is built, besides other factors, by common civil values, common symbols, common sense of progress, common participation in decisions, equality before the law, mutual respect for others and tolerance, and a feeling of freedom”
–From a report by Lutheran World Federation

Que? Which Faith has Scriptural support to demonstrate these values?
Que? What is the role of the Church in bringing forth such a nation?
Que? How do individual Christians participate in the process
That is what we are now to answer

FIRST PRINCIPLES:
-Gen. 1.2, in the beginning there was chaos, today gross darkness covers the earth just as in Biblical times(Isa. 60.2)
-God transformed the earth, then he made a Man made like Him to take Charge (v26)-Christ is the express image of God and we His body, and thus, it is to the Church we look for godly leadership of nations. (Col. 1:15-18)
-God rules in heaven, but the earth He gave us as His proxies (Psalm 115.16).
-It is written, the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord (Rev 11.15)
-Through Abraham, the covenant of nationhood and rulership was established (Gen. 12.1-3)
-The covenant was established by Bread (Body) & Wine (blood), and a King/Priest…transferring royalty to Abraham(Gen. 14:18-20)
-And Abraham obeyed God in doing the needful, and today we have the Jewish/Arab/Christian nations, about 3 billion people

WHY DID WE LOSE DOMINION OVER THE EARTH?: (The Priest & John –A study in typology)
-Truth and mercy are no longer in our midst (Hosea.4.1)
-A lack of knowledge (Hosea 4.6)
-A love for money/syncretism (adding other things to our faith) (Hosea 4.12)
-We refuse to take charge over the allotted territory in the governmental arena, out of fear or ungodly contentment (Judges 1.28)
-And God allowed the evil to become a thorn in our national life (Judges 2.1-3)

WHAT DO WE DO NOW? (The Millionaire, his daughter and the pool –Isaac Newton at work)
-Take a stand against our Goliaths (corruption, mal-administration, syncretic worship and values)
-Explore our 4-cardinal giftings for service to nation (Genetic, Emotional, Intellectual and Spiritual)
-Positioning; we need to go to where the gifts are required, as David went to confront Goliath, and Esther went to the foreign king's palace, ditto Joseph, etc
-We need to impact/influence the society proactively by corporate charitable strategies
-We need to confront bad leadership with the examples of Elijah, Samuel and Nathan
-We need to serve in active governance like Joseph, Mordecai, Esther and Daniel
-We need to respond to the community around us…let our light shine, so God may receive glory
-We need to influence public discourse with our values by conferences on governance
-We need to establish organs that confront policies inimical to our own values
-Separation of Church & state was not God’s idea…the State is Subject to the Creator.
-“He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God” (2 Sam. 23.3b) Lets make this happen, then true peace will be evident in the nations working according to God's programmes established through His elect.

God Bless You, and God Bless Nigeria.

GRACE FOR GRACE

GRACE FOR GRACE

One of the four keywords that describes God’s activities in the entire Bible is the word “Grace”, the three others being Love, Covenant and Faith. Grace has been described as “Unmerited Favour” in Christian parlance, but I believe that grace is far more than that. Let’s look at Paul’s exposition on grace.

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love, with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places In Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show us the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
(Eph. 2:4-9 NKJV)

In this short passage, Paul, used some phrases to describe God’s feelings and actions in applying grace for our salvation, such phrases as;
1. Rich in mercy.
2. His great love.
3. Exceeding riches.
4. His kindness.
5. Gift of God.

Such exemplary words were used to explain the action of God in saving us fallen souls. Showing further that he was even more lost for words, Paul went on in Chapter three of his epistles to the Church in Ephesus to explain the principle of grace as a mystery. He wrote;

“For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles - if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.” (Eph. 3:1-7)

This powerful exposition reveals some critical principles of grace to us.
1. Grace is a gift of God.
2. Grace is given now as part of a dispensation of God.
3. Grace requires the effective working power of God

Through verses eight to twenty one, more superlative expressions of God’s heart towards us was revealed: like;
4. Unsearchable riches of Christ
5. Manifold wisdom of God.
6. Riches of His glory.
7. The love of Christ which passes knowledge.
8. To be filled with the fullness of God.
9. God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above our conception
10.By His power that works in us.

In order to clearly define his exposition on grace as contrary to human effort and works but purely a gift of love and mercy from Jehovah, by the effective working of His mighty power which can do far mightier things than we can conceive, Paul effectively told us that every action of self justification through alternative, human works, theologically defined as the “Law” is an affront to the principle of a free gift of God. Israel, being addicted to the legal requirements of the Mosaic system, rejected God’s love, which He freely demonstrated in that while we were still dead through our sinful nature, He sent His son to pay the price for our sins (Rom. 5:8). This dispensation of God’s grace, which is after all a “mystery” continues to elude the Jews and all fallen men, who, though the light (or revelation) of God is in their midst, could not comprehend it (John 1:4-5).

The Apostle John wrote to the Church, this express instruction, that because the Word of God has now “tabernacled” (dwelt) (John 1:14) among us, and was the carrier of the fullness of God’s grace and His truth, we no longer need signs and seasons, feasts and sacrifices, works and religiousity, and every man made ordinance in any temple or Church, a type of which the Mosaic system demonstrated. We are to come to our inheritance, our blessing, our salvation and our worship, by receiving Him (John 1:12) for it is written “And of His fullness and grace we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ”.

The use of the title Christ as early as this in the book of John indicates that the “Anointed Saviour” was already in town. As the prophet John represented the bridge between the old and the new dispensations, and by his declaration he must decrease so Jesus may increase, this also demonstrates that when grace came, law began to decrease.

In Matthew Chapter 5: 17, Jesus alluded to the works of the law as requiring fulfillment. But even in the Church today, we have modern men who do not accept that Jesus gave the proviso that ‘until it be fulfilled”, the law stands. However, on the day of the Passover, Jesus began the process of fulfilling the law and all its ordinances, setting it aside for ever. When He declared “It is finished” (John 19:30) that ended the ceremonial principles of the Mosaic system, and ignited the dispensation of grace. From this point onwards, whomever would come to God must come by faith only through His son Jesus, that is the only work required of men (John 6:40).

When God raised Jesus up, He ordained a new priesthood (Heb. 4:14), by so doing He forever cancelled the Aaronic and Levitical orders (Heb. 7: 15-17). The word of God condemns the weakness of the Law and establishing the priesthood of grace in Christ Jesus with an oath (Heb. 7: 20-22). Jesus was arrested by the Law, tried by the Law, crucified by the Law, under the Law. But, in resurrecting, He demonstrated superiority to the Law (Heb. 8:6).

God has given us, through our faith in Christ Jesus, the blessings of a better covenant. Our attempt to be saved/blessed by all of our religious actions and activities nullifies the power of grace in our lives. Jesus already pronounced that if we seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, all that we need (not want) will be added to us. (Matthew 6:33). Therefore, that $50 you sowed, believing through that to be a millionaire, is not God adding to you but you trading with God, like the people selling at the Temple when Jesus came into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:12-13). Washing the pastor’s car or kneeling before the woman of God, is works. Trying, in your power to work for God, rather than God working through you is works.

Abraham found grace before God, Noah found grace before God, Jacob found grace before God, David found grace before God, so did the Apostles and every true believer. Having tasted His grace for your salvation, why do you revert to the Law to get your blessing? Who has bewitched you? “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect (sanctified, blessed) by the flesh (works)?”(Gal. 3:2-3).

Brethren, this is God’s message to you if you reject God’s message of “grace for grace” (John 1:16) given by the effective working of His power, and His mercy.
“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel. Which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed” (Gal.1:6-9)

The Apostles put a seal on this debate with the letter to the Church in diaspora;
“Since we have heard that some of you who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying “you must keep the law” – to whom we gave no such commandment –it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same thing by word of mouth. For it seemed good to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well” (Acts 15:24-29).

The Grace of God is sufficient to the true believer, anchor your hopes on God’s promises (2 Peter 3:9a). Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding ().

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in Jesus name. Amen