Pastor Ituah Ighodalo is not only one of Nigeria’s most respected clerics, he is also one of the most patriotic Nigerians you can possibly ever find. He is always worried about the myriads of challenges facing Nigeria. He is always engaging other equally concerned Nigerians, seeking to find solutions to the problems bedevilling the country.
Even when he is on the pulpit preaching the word of God, he still talks about the country and offers suggestions on how to move it forward. That is how fiercely passionate Pastor Ituah Ighodalo is about his country, Nigeria.
A few days ago, inside his church, The Trinity House, Pastor Ituah made out time to reflect on the situation of things in Nigeria.…CONTINUE READING
He invited a couple of speakers who addressed the youths especially and assured everyone there was light at the end of the tunnel. After the programme, he spoke briefly with City People Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) about the present administration. Enjoy excerpts.
Despite the concerted efforts the government appears to be making in trying to turn the fortunes of the country around, many still appear to have lost confidence completely in the government. They don’t believe anything has changed. What are your thoughts, sir?
Well, sometimes people say you cannot teach an old dog new tricks, you cannot tell a leper to change his spot. I think the foundation of government is for Nigerians to really wake up among themselves and decide what the characteristics of the persons that they choose to govern them should be. Unfortunately, the illiteracy is so high that some people do not know what good governance is from bad governance, they have no idea. About 70 to 80% of Nigeria’s population have no idea of the characteristics that should make a person a good governor, the only characteristics that they know is that this person gave me money, so, their own thinking is that the gift of money is the pre-requirement for the response to decision taking as to who should govern you. But a thief can come and give you money, an armed robber can come and give you money, a drug addict can come and give you money, a fool can come and give you money, a monkey can come and give you money, which is why our people think that anybody can be put into places of responsibility. But once you have a bad head, you have a terrible body.
So most people in governance in Nigeria are not in governance to help the people, they didn’t come into politics to serve, they didn’t come into politics to benefit the people, they came into politics to do a transaction to benefit themselves, so why should they sacrifice? Some are smart enough to know that certain words and phrases are good for optics, for local and international community, but they don’t mean them, and sometimes they don’t even understand these words. So, they’ve gotten some rhetoric from World Bank, from IMF, from wherever, you have to tighten your seatbelts, you have to do this, you have to tell the people they have to tighten their seatbelts, but the man doesn’t think that it is referring to him. He must have all the comfort that his office deserves, and for him to be able to do things. So, when the governor comes into the office, the first thing he wants to do is to fix his own office. The second thing he wants to do is to buy cars. The third thing he wants to do is to fix government houses, so, the first priority is his own comfort. Why are you going to ask him to tighten his seatbelt? So, we still do not yet have the right kind of leaders, that is the problem, and it is for us as Nigerians to first of all know who the right kind of leader is, and insist, and force. You have to have an orientation of about 150 million people before you can get it right in Nigeria. You have to reorientate them. The challenge is who will do it? Who will do it? And that’s why we need people like the press, people like the pastors, people like the imams, people who know a bit better, and who are willing to be sacrificial, and are not looking for government benefit and largess. Unless we are able to reorientate the people and educate the people, you may not be able to get in the trajectory and in the natural, a well-functioning Nigeria.
Political machinery being aware, because the political machinery that has evolved in Nigeria over time is a machinery that dwells on ignorance, that dwells on insincerity, that is fuelled by corruption and selfishness and greed. That is the culture that our politics, with the help of the military, has created. With the help of the British and the military has created. That’s what we have created. That’s the animal we have given birth to. So the other animal that will respect performance, respect hard work, honesty, and service, does not quite exist within our political culture. It’s almost an anathema that anybody who has that kind of background and upbringing is ostracized, vilified, pushed against, and thrown out of the system or punished for thinking like that. For daring to aspire to transform, to think that way. You are attacked. What you are rewarded for is blind loyalty regardless of what your boss is doing. So we need a total change of culture in Nigeria for Nigeria to move forward
It is not uncommon to hear Nigerians expressing deep concerns about the present government, what is your honest assessment of the President Tinubu administration?
I think they could’ve done a bit more. They could’ve made a few more deep and far reaching changes. They could’ve done a bit better. They’ve made some very good appointments, there’s no doubt about that, there are others that we are waiting to see how it will go. But I think, like I’ve said, they have a great chance. But I think they could’ve done a bit better. I think the circumstances in which they came in has not given them the gravitas to do as much as they could’ve done. A lot of people were disappointed. So, that’s why, almost a year after they came in, there was still this struggle for legitimacy and for asserting themselves which distracted the government a little bit. But let’s see, I’m hopeful, I’m a perfect optimist in Nigeria and I do know that things would definitely not be as bad as they were during the time of president Buhari.
Concerning the issue of the subsidy removal, do you think it could’ve been handled better?
The only way it could’ve been handled a bit better is if they were better prepared. I think the president’s statement took everyone by surprise, so he decided to push it through. The element of surprise was important because if he didn’t surprise Nigerians, they would not have allowed that subsidy to be done. But they should’ve done a bit more quiet background work so that as soon as they made that announcement, they could put in all the necessary things they needed to put in to make sure that the thing went transparently. But it’s okay, I’m glad that the subsidy is gone anyway, although I hear that somehow or the other, it’s not fully gone, they’re still subsidising a few things. So, we really don’t know what’s going on. But we need to get rid of that subsidy. We need to get the refineries working and we need to make sure Nigeria can produce, that’s what we need to do.
What would you advice Nigerians to do in terms of preparing themselves for another long and difficult year?
Well, Nigerians should be ready to work hard. And we are at a mode where we should be ready to help ourselves. We can’t keep waiting and waiting and waiting for government. Let everybody roll up their sleeves and let them help themselves. Let them start producing, let them start adding value, let them start manufacturing, let them start exporting. Let them start fixing their own roads, doing their own water, continue doing their own power. Let them just run with these things and not wait for any government to do anything for us, that’s my advice to Nigerians.
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