 |
| KMEN'S Great Company members (from left): Odinaka Uruakpa, Stella Sawyerr, Gbenga Osinaike, Lekan Otufodunrin and Segun Otokiti. |
Wednesday,
November 19 was International Men’s Day 2014. It providentially coincided with
a major activity of the Lagos, Nigeria-based ministry to men that I have the
priviledge of leading, KINGDOM MEN.
KMEN, as
the ministry is called for short, had a two-in-one media event. The KMEN Great Company, the ministry’s media
support group was launched. Coordinated by Dennis Onwuegbu, a journalist and
member of the leadership team of KMEN, the team, comprised of Christian
journalists with track records of “using their calling to serve their faith…
placing their time, talent and influence to propagate the gospel.
The
inaugural team consists of Lekan Otufodunrin, Online Editor of The Nation
newspaper, who founded and coordinates Journalists for Christ; Segun Otokiti, a
veteran Faith writer currently of National Daily and Gbenga Osinaike, founder
and editor of Nigeria’s most consistent Christian publication, Church Times.
Two women who kindly consented to serve on the team are Stella Sawyerr,
Associate Editor with TELL Communications, publishers of TELL magazine and
Broad Street Journal and; Odinaka Uruakpa who heads the National Mirror
newspaper’s Faith Desk.
The
second part of the day’s event was the launch of what the ministry styles as
the fix the Men, fix Nigeria Initiative. With the hash tags
#fixthemenfixNigeria and #fixthemenfixthe nations, the initiative is designed
to draw attention to the hardly recognised but unassailable truth that MEN ARE
THE PROBLEM AND MEN ARE THE ANSWER.
Through
the initiative, the ministry plans to start public campaigns to draw attention
to the need for the nations to begin to pay attention to the spiritual health of
our men, if we are to reduce the social, political and economic challenges we
face, because most of the challenges emanate from the actions or omissions of
men as husbands, brothers, fathers and leaders. That explains the headline of
this piece, which as you may know was adapted from Bill Clinton campaign slogan
when he was seeking office in 1993.
The
ministry plans to do much more: take the campaign to churches in particular to
encourage pastors to take ministry to men more seriously; place more emphasis
on discipleship and mentoring. The first
phase will climax with the ministry’s second MEGA-SUMMIT on the theme, Fix the
men, Fix the Nations, holding in Lagos, Nigeria, April 30-May 3, 2015.
 |
| A cross section of attendees: 3rd left is Madam Elizabeth Alabi, who unveiled the #FixthemenfixNigeria Initiative. |
Let’s go
back to the International Men's Day. Founded
in 199, it was inaugurated in Trinidad and Tobago by Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh in
1999. A piece on IMD.org, official
website for the event stated: “The new event received overwhelming support in
the Caribbean and due to the persistent networking and invitations sent to
individuals in other nations International Men's Day has taken root on the
international scene. The Caribbean initiative is now independently celebrated
in countries as diverse as Singapore, Australia, India, United Kingdom, United
States, South Africa, Haiti, Jamaica, Hungary, Malta, Ghana, Moldova, and
Canada and interest in the event is increasing rapidly.”
Incidentally, prior to this, the
website noted, that since at least the 1960's
it was reported that many men had “been agitating privately to make
February 23 International Men's Day, the equivalent of March 8, which is
International Women's day" (New York Times, Feb 24 1969). Since this time
there have been persistent international calls for the creation of an IMD,
calls in the form of rhetorical questions about gender equality, eg. "Why
do women have an international celebration and not men?" and more commonly
in the form of statements like "Men's contributions and concerns deserve a
day of recognition in their own right" i.e. not merely by analogy with
International Women's Day. Proposed objectives of an International Men's Day
include a focus on men's and boy's health, improving gender relations,
promoting gender equality, and highlighting positive male role models. It is
also suggested as an occasion whereby men may highlight discrimination against
them and celebrate their positive achievements and contributions to
communities, places of work, friendships, families, marriages, and child care.”
During last year’s event, Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh, the founder said:
“the annual observance of
International Men’s Day on November 19th indicates a deep concern for the
numerous problems plaguing our world. It is annually observed by both men and
women who are eager to assist the troubled, help the dysfunctional and promote
positive role models in our society. It is hoped that celebrating International
Men’s Day will ultimately produce a more peaceful world with responsible and
caring fathers, brothers, nephews, grandfathers, husbands and sons.”
The “deep
concern for the numerous problems plaguing our world” the Caribbean scholar
spoke about simply confirms what we at KINGDOM MEN have been saying to date
- that the nations are the way they are because of the quality of men they
have. Or
in Clinton-speak, it’s the men, stupid.
