IT’S THE MEN, STUPID

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.