Reporting for True Vision in Abuja is Okezie Uchenna having a media chat with the Venerable Dr. Gershinen Paul Dajur, General Secretary of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican communion).
Reporter: Good day sir, for our audience and reader, we will like to know you?
Clergyman: I am Venerable Dr. Gershinen Paul Dajur. A priest of the Anglican Church. I am the General Secretary of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion).
Reporter: Nigeria At 61, has the country met it expectations?
Clergyman: I am grateful to God that I am alive and I am trusting God that I will be alive to witness the 61st anniversary of the independence of Nigeria our country. I must say that God has been faithful and has helped Nigeria and Nigerians, so there is every reason to say thank you to God for what we have experienced and what we are experiencing right now. But I think there is so much that need to be done as far as Nigeria as a nation is concerned. The founding fathers, who fought for the actualization of the independence of Nigeria did it with the clear intention, that by independence Nigerians should be able to live life well, enjoy freedom, enjoy dignity, human respect, and also be able to use their resources that God has given them by themselves for the good of the land and for the good of the people.
This has been a challenge from the beginning and has continued to be because we don’t see the resources being used for the citizens of Nigerian. I can say that whereas Nigeria is making progress age-wise, the dividends of an independent nation that Nigeria should enjoy is not fully been received. I can say that Nigeria has lots more to enjoy in independence than we are enjoying right now.
Report: Sir, if I may ask you, in your own knowledge, what might have gone wrong? Given the huge potentials that Nigeria is blessed with.
Clergyman: What has gone wrong is that Nigerians themselves do not love the country called Nigeria. Also, our foreign partners are not lovers of Nigeria as an independent nation. The collaboration of some Nigerians and some foreign partners has made it impossible for Nigerians to achieve their goals. Why do I say so?
As Nigerians what is our anthem saying, it calls us to obey and to act in a manner that would make Nigeria peaceful and a joyful nation for us to live in but we are not doing that. We can’t blame any other person because we are the people killing ourselves, we are the people stealing the resources of the land, we are the people undermining one another in the same country called Nigeria, we are the ones doing corruption, we are the ones fighting one another in ethnicity, tribalism, religiosity and all of those things – we are the ones. That is the problem of the Nigerian person. But I tell you the external powers or partners that I am referring to are those who support us to do corruption because you will agree with me that whatever money is stolen from Nigeria is taken overseas. Those who loot the treasury of this country are stocking them in some foreign countries and you know their names. But if those people were supporters of Nigeria they will not receive those stolen monies. However, since they also are willing to take those monies that have been stolen from Nigeria, it means they are collaborators in destroying Nigeria as a nation. So I would say that some Nigerians and some foreign partners have destroyed Nigeria and are destroying Nigeria.
Reporter: Sir what is the way forward, how can we help instill hope and faith in the Nigeria project?
Clergyman:
1. Nigeria will make no progress without understanding her place in God. Psalms 24 verse 1 of the Holy Bible says that the earth and the fullness thereof belongs to God. By implication, nothing will ever work well if you don’t relate well with the owner of the land. The owner of the land is not the President neither is it the presidency. The owner of the land is God Almighty. Therefore, the first point of call for us to rework our ways back to normalcy in Nigeria is to recognize God and give him the due that is His own. We must allow him to take charge and by this, I am asking that those who know that they are Nigerians should go back to God – whatever their religion, they should go back to God. And I believe that none of those religions that we have tells us to destroy our nation, to kill one another – I do not think so. God wants us to love one another to care for one another. So my first recommendation is that we should go back to God.
2. The second recommendation is that Nigerians should show the love of their country by acting it out. There is no reason why we sing the National Anthem, we recite the National Pledge and we confess our belief in Nigeria without acting the same. The same man who sings the National Anthem is the one running down Nigeria in his own office, but that should not be. The same woman who is pledging to be loyal and to be honest is the one that is not honest, it should not be. So the second point is that Nigerians should rise up and act what they say in the pledge and in the anthem.
3. The third point is for Nigeria to believe in itself. We do not need America to be Nigeria, we do not need the European countries to be Nigeria and we do not need the Arab countries to be Nigeria. Nigeria can exist and can survive and can enjoy the fullness of life without those outside countries dictating to us. We must believe in Nigeria and make Nigeria grow and make Nigeria prosper.
4. Fourthly, I want Nigeria to stop this borrowing that has become the order of the day. Somebody analyzed and said that every Nigerian has a debt of one hundred and sixty-five thousand naira (#165,000) each. To the best of my knowledge I did not borrow any money from nobody but based on record I am owing one hundred and sixty-five thousand naira as a person and that’s just not me, every single Nigerian and that’s wrong. We should stop borrowing money, Nigeria has a lot of resources. It’s unthinkable that someone has billions stolen Naira only for himself – we should stop that. We should stop liquidating and destroying the economy and the resources of Nigeria.
5. Fifthly, Nigerians should stop the killings. Nobody is killing Nigerians, it is Nigerians that are killing Nigerians and that has to stop. I know those who are kidnapping are taking ransoms and things like that but it is a vain business, its vanity. We should stop killing one another and love one another. It doesn’t matter where you are coming from, whether from the North or from the South or from the East or from the West, wherever you are coming from doesn’t matter. We are Nigerians and we must stop killing, we must embrace one another, and we must love one another.
Venerable thanks so much for your time, we are grateful for your time and hope to get Nigeria working again.
