I’ll soon ask my members to produce their voter cards in church – Bishop Okonkwo

Bishop Okonkwo
Dr. Mike Okonkwo is the bishop in charge of The Redeemed Evangelical Ministry Lagos. In this interview with KUNLE ADEYEMI, ADEMOLA ONI, Success Nwogu and ODUTAYO ODUSANYA, he discusses the rot in the nation’s polity and the way forward



Do you really think Nigeria had any reason to celebrate its 50th independence?

I will address this issue from two stand points. In the first place, we have to look at it from the fact that in spite of our differences and diversities, we are still together. It does happen in most nations. The events that have happened in this nation are not as much as the events in other nations, even in the West African sub-region, which resulted in full-blown wars. Somehow, when it seems everything is going to blow up, suddenly, something happens that calms everything down. This can only be God. So, for me and for most Nigerians, we have every reason to be grateful to God for keeping us together. War and violence are not what anyone wants to pray about in this country. We need peace in this country for us to celebrate. In spite of our challenges in the health sector; in the education sector and not having to contend with natural disasters in energy and other areas, we are still together; we still exist. That is something to thank God for. I have every reason to thank God in the human resources that God has endowed this country with. Nigerians are in key fields of human endeavours making global impact.

Think of the spiritual life. Whether people want to admit it or not, the spiritual pendulum that is tilted to Africa, Nigeria is very key to it; even if we are exporting nothing, we are exporting Christianity. If you look at the resources that we are endowed with and whether we have used them to favourably develop this country, I will say we have not. Our infrastructure has not been developed. Corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of our society from top to bottom; no one is exempted. And somehow, nothing is being done. It is even more shocking to note that some of the development we see in the Western world or even around us in Africa, some key players in those countries are Nigerians. Some of the time, you may ask yourself: why can’t we do the same thing here? So, that question keeps begging for an answer. Look at our roads, they are death traps. Look at our airports; as far as I’m concerned, our airports are toilets compared to major airports in the world, even in South Africa. Look at our health care delivery, people are dying of sicknesses that shouldn’t kill them. When you see people dying of little sicknesses here, you will see that we don’t really have value for life. Look at the violence, look at the kidnapping; look at the rate of unemployment. When you see these things, you will know that we are not yet there. We can get there, but the issue is that the structure we have cannot take us there. It will be difficult.
Read More:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20101113105659