THE REAL CHANGE

PASTOR SAM ADEYEMI ON CHANGE:

Highly respected and revered Pastor Sam Adeyemi wrote on his blog:

A NEW NIGERIA

There is about to be a re-creation in Nigeria. There is a process of evolution that God is setting in motion. We are getting pregnant with a new Nigeria. A beautiful Nigeria. A valuable Nigeria. A wealthy Nigeria. In this new Nigeria it will be absurd to see people in the front seat of a moving car without their seat belt, or breaking the traffic light etc. There is a new Nigeria where if you don’t know how to live in an orderly society, you will be jailed. The present Nigeria we have is one in which people believe you can’t succeed in business except you are corrupt and give bribe, but there is a new Nigeria coming where corruption will be an aberration. In the old Nigeria, when someone says I am going into business, you know what he or she meant. It means I’m going into contract mostly government contract. The value you place on yourself will affect your behavior, confession and how you treat yourself. One major problem I see around is that most people don’t believe they deserve a better life. For me, it is not a question of maybe or maybe not, Nigerians deserve a better way of life. When I drive on the street and see the deprivation, and poverty, I know they deserve a better quality of life. But you have to begin from now to condition your environment to the new revelation of a new Nigeria. Become a new and different person and make a different demand on your environment. Carry a different atmosphere of your own. When Jesus was around, He said the kingdom of heaven is here. Know you are under a different government. You have a different constitution, which is superior to this natural one. There is no sickness or poverty around you in that environment.

If Lagos in 30 years’ time will become as beautiful as New York, it’s not the government that will fix your house for you or plant a green lane in front of your house. The government can only fix public places. You will have to be the government and do your part and your neighbor will do his part. That’s when the city will look better. The most forceful way to pass this message across is to become different. Do your part and God cannot but do His own part. I drive myself around and people wonder why I do that. This is because the old Nigerian mindset is – as soon as God is blessing you a little bit, you should start sitting in the owner’s corner. The most comfortable place in a car by design is the driver’s seat- that’s the owner’s corner. That is why all the buttons that control things in the car are around that seat. If Jesus tarries, by the time I am ninety I will still be driving, not an old man condemned to the back seat. In the new Nigeria, people will be empowered that it will be so expensive to employ the services of a driver. I’m saying this so people will begin to adjust. Instead of housemaid, you’d buy a dishwasher. Or washing machine, drying machine, and learn to do things yourself. The temptation in Nigeria is that as you become powerful, you get a siren. But that is not the new Nigeria I see, I see a new Nigeria where justice will be the order of the day and there will be equality. A new Nigeria where power will not be abused but used for the right purpose. I see a new Nigeria, the dawn of a new day. Will you be part of it or remain in the confines of the old Nigeria?



MY TAKE:

My revered Pastor Adeyemi sounded self contradictory as he tied the birth of a New Nigeria to the New Administration, whilst at the same time pointing out the obvious that Nigerians must first Change their way of thinking to see any change in real terms. Calling for the individual participation in the Process of Nation Building. One Response that caught my attention was that credited to someone simply called Terry, he wrote: "Hmmm. The problem with Christians.. How does taking Nigeria from a Christian and handing it over to an uneducated jihadist and his gang of legendary treasury looters led by the most corrupt Nigerian politician in modern day Nigeria .... How does that usher in a "new Nigeria"??"

The Muslim/Christian divide aside, which was a major concern during the campaigns, I go with Pastor Adeyemi's call for a change in our way of Thinking as that is the Birth of Real Change: I should wear my seat belt, because seat belt saves lives and not because someone will punish me if I dont. I should keep my surroundings clean because it's Healthy to do so, not because a Government official say so. I must shun corruption not because I will be jailed if am caught but because am compassionate enough to know that the resources I want to keep for me and my family will go a long way in meeting the needs of the majority of the population. I should shun corruption because I have learnt the virtue of contentment and not the fear of a jail term (we have seen pick pockets carrying out their trade in places where public execution of criminals was taking place). I should develop myself so as to increase my market value and not depend on some Government policy that will increase the minimum wage in my favor.

I do not subscribe to the illusion that "The Destiny of 180 Million Nigerians reside in the hands of one man." Pastor Sam Adeyemi and many like him had braced the odds and become success stories and the emulation of thousands. They represent the resilient spirit that makes the Nigerian different from other Nationals. It's that same spirit that will bring about the Change we crave for.

Each and every Nigerian taking responsibility for his or her action\inaction is the real change we need. It may be too early to call but am convinced that the powers that forced President Mohammadu Buhari out of political retirement and made him President (It's an illusion to think the vote of the masses brought him to power) did so for the Love of Nigeria.