Nigeria @ 66
OpenLife News reports that Adekunle M. Richard, a dynamic leader, is the Senior Pastor and President of Power on the Rock International Ministry, also known as Rock Chapel in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.
With a background in both accounting and education, Adekunle served at KPMG, an internal audit and consulting firm, where he gained valuable experience before embarking on his personal ministry journey in 2002.
His spiritual foundation was honed at Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel), where he received comprehensive training before answering the call to ministry.
A fervent lover of the Word of God, his passion for spreading its message has been evident throughout his impactful journey.
In his personal life, he is happily married to Betty Idowu Adekunle and they are blessed with two daughters – Oluwatumininu Rejoice Adekunle and Fadesola Abigail Adekunle.
In this interview with OpenLife Senior Staff Writer, Isaac Ngumah, Pastor Richard speaks on Nigeria at 66, governance, economy and the Church.
Excerpts
Nigeria just celebrated 66 years of independence. How would you assess the journey so far?
Whatever we see after 66 years of independence is not something we can be proud and happy about. When we look at the structures of Nigeria physically, it sends a dangerous signal. It is like a round peg in a square hole.
At 66, in terms of governance, zero; in terms of leadership, zero; in terms of infrastructure, zero. There are countries not as intellectually developed as Nigeria, but they are progressing more than Nigeria.
66 years of Nigeria’s independence is a waste of destiny. Government institutions and infrastructure are not working.
You will discover that privately-owned institutions are progressively active, but government-owned ones are not working. Where there are institutional problems, the nation cannot develop.
Many Nigerians say the country is broke and there is nothing to celebrate, with fuel now at N1,400 – N1,500 per litre, high cost of living, unemployment and poverty. What is your take?
They are not far from the truth. How can we have crude oil here in Nigeria and fuel is selling for N1,400, N1,500 per litre? How do you expect Dangote to buy crude oil at international price and sell at a lower price to Nigerians? It’s not possible.
The government agencies are supposed to sell to Dangote at national or local price, but they are not doing so, so that Dangote can sell back to us at a lower price.
The government knows what to do but they are not doing it.A nation that does not produce anything, its citizens will experience hardship.
Until we start to produce things for ourselves, that is when we can be free. When we import everything, the currency will devalue.
In the 70s and 80s, Nigeria was a great manufacturing country. Cars and many other things were produced and manufactured here. The economy was very stable then, but presently it has gone down.
The President said he met economic woes when he assumed office. What do you make of that?
All of us know that eight years of Buhari was a disaster, but I will not apportion all the blame to Buhari. The Buhari government failed to run the economy with economic weapons.
The president who brought him into power is also to be blamed.Buhari was in government but he was not in power.
The likes of Malami, Chief of Staff and others were the ones in government. Politicians under Buhari are not human beings. They embezzled the nation. Corruption was the order of the day.
How would you rate the economic reforms and policies of the present government?
The reforms are really biting. The reforms are harsh. The present government says it has improved infrastructure and investment, but infrastructure in Nigeria is verbal distribution, it is not physically distributed.
The government should work on federal roads and abandoned road networks and improve more on infrastructure.
This government talked about a one trillion dollar economy. Will they be able to build it when corruption is in place?
There are concerns about electoral integrity and political institutions since independence. What is your view?
There is no democracy in Nigeria. The electoral laws only favour some people. They will only make laws that favour them. Deficiency has infiltrated the electoral laws in Nigeria.
We only have a political gathering of a ruling cabal that works to favour themselves.All those political parties of the first republic, the first generation of politicians, they were more humanist than present politicians.
The Western Region was able to receive free education through Obafemi Awolowo, from primary school to university. Those first republic politicians had other achievements, they were great achievers, but these current ones are fighting for their own pockets.
What is the way out? Many have clamoured for restructuring to address faulty structure, North-South dichotomy, leadership failure and insecurity?
The best thing that can be done is to restructure Nigeria and that is the way out. The country should be restructured and with that restructuring, state police should come in.
Restructure the country according to ethnic nationalities and if you want Nigeria to work, every nationality should be recognized, every region should control their resources and bring their quota to the centre.
On education and out-of-school children?
The education system is bad and collapsed. That is why we have a high number of out-of-school children.
What about youth unemployment and the way forward?
Every youth in Nigeria should acquire skills. Formal education without skills is zero. A lot of youths in China today didn’t acquire formal education but with their skills, they have produced a lot.
When you will be looking for one government organisation that will employ you, you will be wasting your time, but if you have skills, you will definitely improve and people will know you from there and you will be progressive.
What can you say about unbridled corruption and the way out?
There is no prayer that can change our mindset, so we must change our mindset and fight corruption squarely. That is when we will succeed.
Let’s talk about the Church. Why are churches silent over prevailing challenges?
The role of the church is not for political advocacy, the church is spiritual advocacy. When Herod was trying to lay hands on Peter, the disciples rose up in prayer to change the situation and Herod died.
The church’s responsibility is to pray to move the hand of God to move the hearts of men.
Should men of God go into politics?
Of course, yes.
What about men of God who use private jets and security agents, build schools and hospitals their members cannot afford, and live flamboyant lives?
If it is for the purpose of the gospel, there is nothing bad in it. It will help to spread the gospel faster and easier.There is nowhere in the world today where knowledge is free.
If it is free, it will not be valued. I am not in support of people going with entourage. I am a modern person.
What do you say about fake pastors, fake miracles and sexual immorality among men of God?
It is not a strange thing, it is in the Bible – Elymas the false prophet in the book of Acts of the Apostles. In every area of life we have fake, we have original. If there is no original, there will not be fake.Men of God who get involved in sexual immorality will pay the price.
Whatever a man sows, that he will reap. Anywhere you are going, go with your wife. You can be tempted and fall because we are all flesh and blood. The Bible says flee from every appearance of evil, so we need to flee.
What is the Church’s contribution to nation building and what do you say about the alleged Christian genocide?
The church has been building schools, hospitals and many other things. The church has been a blessing to Nigeria.We need to wake up as Christians and defend ourselves.
The best way to avoid this Christian genocide is for us to defend ourselves. Defending ourselves is not a sin because they are not ready to stop the killings.
Tell us about your ministry, calling, miracles and challenges.
It is God that decided to call me, I didn’t call myself, because if I had called myself I may not have lasted. I started 21 years ago.
Our own is to preach and pray for people while God leads.One of the main challenges in ministry is patience with God so that I don’t miss my calling.
We need God and men, and in the process of working with men, there will be betrayers. Another challenge is funding grassroots evangelism. We go for one-on-one evangelism and God has helped me to write many books which are our evangelism materials.
Do you have training programmes and empowerment for youths, widows and the less privileged?
Yes, we have believers’ foundation, workers’ training and Bible school. The impact has been wonderful. We have a welfare department which has trained many students and also taken care of orphanages.
There are widows who cannot afford to take care of their children, we train their children up to university level.
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