BETWEEN SURVIVING AND THRIVING

Now, there are many reasons why we are a surviving rather than a thriving nation. One of them is the dearth of people-loving leadership. The golden age of Nigeria was the era of Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Ahmadu Bello and they succeeded because they loved their people enough to want the very best for them. It is that kind of leadership that we must seek to enthrone if we will have anything to celebrate next year.

FIFTY weeks from now, Nigeria will be 50, if the Lord tarries. You can be sure that the golden milestone would be celebrated with considerable fanfare, regardless of the achievements, or lack of it, of the nation over the period. If media debates about the state of the nation at 49 offer any guide, there are probably as many people who think we definitely have reasons to celebrate as think otherwise.

I personally agree with those who say we do not have any cause to celebrate the last anniversary, particularly because, it would have been insensitivity at its worst for us to roll out the drums with our universities shut to industrial dispute, among other socio-economic challenges. But, shall we have cause to celebrate our golden jubilee in October 2010? Frankly, I think it would depend on what we do or fail to do in the brief intervening period? For those with a statistical bent, that is to say, we have one week to redeem each year of our national life yet! And that’s almost ludicrous, isn’t it? But haven’t there been famous injury time redemptions as in football before? Besides, I am a Bible-believing Christian - I believe in miracles.

But I am not going to talk about miracles today. I want to talk about authority, my authority and yours as believers to change things around us. Many of us might recall the four-part series, “Open Letter to Kingdom Persons” published here recently. In it, I tried to draw our attention or remind us, as the case might be, of the unfortunate prevalence of sons of God living the lives of servants. We pointed out that God’s Kingdom is a kingdom of sons, not servants or slaves; that everyone who you are a son of God if you are led by the Holy Spirit. If you are born again, you are open to the leading of the Holy Spirit already, because without the Holy Spirit working on your heart, you wouldn’t have accepted the lordship of Jesus Christ, in the first place. Implicit in sonship is authority; the kind that servants do not have.

It is this theme that struck me as I reflected on the potentials of our nation as we approach 50. As I write this, ours is a surviving nation. A survivor, as Pastor George Pearson of Kenneth Copeland’s Eagles Mountain Church recently said, is only one step above the dead. In other words, any deterioration in a survivor’s case automatically leads to death. Yet, given the abundant resources it has pleased God to locate within our geopolitical boundary, we should be a thriving nation. We should be that land flowing with milk and honey, far, far, far above death.

Now, there are many reasons why we are a surviving rather than a thriving nation. One of them is the dearth of people-loving leadership. The golden age of Nigeria was the era of Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Ahmadu Bello and they succeeded because they loved their people enough to want the very best for them. It is that kind of leadership that we must seek to enthrone if we will have anything to celebrate next year. How to do it? Let’s enforce our spiritual authority as sons of God to speak what we want into manifestation. No other strategy can beat that.

RE: A NATION DOUBLY BEREAVED
When Nigeria’s Flying Eagles crashed out of the Under-21 World Cup last Wednesday night, my mind flashed to an article “A Nation Doubly Bereaved” (Kingdom Perspective, September 13, 2009), the conclusion of which was lost to gremlin, the printer’s devil. I think the last few paragraphs of the piece can bear repetition. So, here goes:

Interestingly, it is not often that they (football administrators) manifest ineptitude. Sometimes they even strive to get it right, throw money around, organise friendly matches etc, yet things don’t work. Take the (Super Eagles’) match against Tunisia. Do you think those boys didn’t know what was at stake? Do you think they do not want to go to the World Cup - with all that it would do for their career? Are they not experienced enough to know what to do to defend their one goal advantage five minutes to a crucial match? Think again.

Dr Adeleke Olaiya, President, Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF), I believe, put his finger right on it, when he said during the week “that our football problem is intricately spiritual and we must apologise to Ibrahim Galadima, former Nigeria Football Association (NFA) boss for all Nigerians wronged him by disgracing him out of office with just no cause. If he was unable to take us to the World Cup, who will? This is the bitter truth and I stand to be challenged. Nigeria must not be careless with her spiritual life by taking things for granted, we must be sensitive in our public life and ask for forgiveness from God. Then our football will wake up with genuine developmental agenda. God will be with us and give strength to our leaders.”

Save for the fact that the injustice in our football predated the Galadima episode, and has not ceased since, I am absolutely in agreement with Olaiya. The point is this. It is an inviolable moral and spiritual law that you cannot build something on nothing. One of my dear readers, Mr Akintunde Makinde once put it very powerfully on this page in a similar context. Quoting Charles Spurgeon he said “You cannot steal a goose and offer God the gosling” and added “Amalekite oxen are unacceptable as burnt offering. Might is not right but right is right. This is the way forward for the country.”

Gani (Fawehinmi) died a day before our World Cup dreams died. Gani was a source of succour and hope for the common man. So is football. While we can keep Gani’s essence alive by picking up the gauntlet against greed, which is the father of virtually all other vices, we can resuscitate our sports by exorcising the spirit of greed that has held it bound. Are we going to even try?