FROM THE PREACHER'S LENSES

Sam AwedaSaturday, May 2, 2009
[email protected]


ANNOUNCE THIS ARTICLE
TO YOUR FRIENDS

YOU KNOW THE GROUP I SYMPATHIZE WITH MOST?
NIGERIANS IN DIASPORA -PART 5 (CONCLUSION)

went to Nigeria in May 2007 with a letter addressed to all Churches, Christian Missions and Organizations etc to sensitize them about the way out of the present lock-jam in what I have termed 'Jungle way of life' which is meanwhile in operation at every sphere of life at home. No Denomination, Conference etc was left out.


advertisement

Anyone can imagine the volume that went out. We (Our Mission) carried some of the letters by courier, some by registered post while some were delivered directly to the Headquarters of the Churches. Only the Superintendent of the Assembly of God Church, Orlu Division, Imo State replied till date.

I then asked members of our Mission and other Pastor friends to eavesdrop what was in the minds of the Church Leaders. One of it was that the Pastors expected me to come home, invite them for meetings and at the end of each meeting, hand them envelopes to cover their journey expenses and pay them honorarium. I was told that this is the practice of Super evangelists Reinhard Bonnke and Benny Hein. God have mercy.

Babs Ajayi, a regular columnist in the Nigeriaworld sometimes last year (2008) took on a boyhood mate of mine who is occupying a highly placed and sensitive position in the Government. Babs sized him up on a reported activity of this mate and dressed him down properly. As I went through the write-up line by line, my sweat increased and I wished I could get hold of Babs and plead with him and say "Please stop it, enough and be lenient a bit. He might not have carefully thought out that particular action. He is normally not as bad"

Soon as I finished reading Bab's 'tongue lashing' of my friend, I placed a call to him immediately. "Old boy, why did you do such and such?" He explained it as blackmail, handiwork of a neighbouring rivalry state. � was not quite satisfied with his defence; but I swallowed it with a notion that 'may be he has a point anyway'. Then he asked me "But where did you read the article?" Nigeriaworld" "O, you read it in the Nigeriaworld and you are sweating. Who cares about what those people living in comfort over there write? And is that why you lose your peace?" Can anyone now see why I sympathize with Nigerians in Diaspora?

Bro. Femi Awodele has, long ago captured the thoughts of those at home. In his opening comment while writing on "Slavery in Nigeria" published by the Nigeriaworld on Friday 20 February 2009, wrote:

"I have written on Nigeria and the complex problems of our country many times, just like many people on this forum, personally I don't know if these writings reach or make any difference especially to those who can effect the needed changes, so I resolved to stick to writing about relationships and that has been gratifying and more importantly brings glory to God"

Diaspora people maintain the home economy with the remittances they send home. Many of them will be happy to return home immediately the country is fairly habitable and to make this happen is a reason why quite a number of them are working assiduously to effect changes, using all means including establishment of on-line newspapers, which suggest solutions through several articles.

Tope Amusan in Houston TX is doing a marvelous job on African Heritage Radio broadcasting to all nook and corners of the world every blessed Wednesday and Thursday 1900hr Eastern time (US), 1300hr Nigeria time.

To Bro Femi Awodele, Ms Madega and others who are not sure whether or not their writings reach or make any difference to those who can effect the needed changes, permit me to say that perseverance is the solution. Those who can effect the necessary changes may appear as if what we are writing do not move them, it is not necessarily the case. Those writings, keep them on their toes, at least.

If anyone remember the days of Tola Adeniyi, alias "Till Death do us Part" column in the Nigerian Tribune and the late educationist, Tai Solarin's "State of the Nation" column, also in the Tribune. They wrote regularly on Mondays and Thursdays respectively. I understood that, the first thing Alhaji Sheu Shagari, the then President did on those days, soon as he arrived office was to ask for the Tribune and when his Government or himself was spared on any of those particular days from the tongue lashing of the duo, he sighed a great relief.

I must confess, I get discouraged and distraught a lot myself but it is our country and so we can't afford to give up. We must emulate Prophet Isaiah who said "For Zion's sake, will I not hold my peace and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth"(Isaiah 62: 1).

No one should give up his/her contribution albeit small until poverty is removed from the land and our journey to heaven is made easier and smoothened.

Hon. Dimeji Bankole, appreciating the contribution of Nigerians in Diaspora, to the Nigeria economy on November 16 2007 "instructed House Committee on Foreign Affairs that it must ensure that all policies of the Federal Government are geared towards maximizing the benefits of the nation's foreign relationships in the best interest of the average Nigerian" His words: "In this cause, you must fully investigate all acts of cruelty, violence and injustice against Nigerian citizens residing abroad. Recent cases have been recorded of the inhuman treatment of Nigerian citizens, sometimes leading to their death. This must have to stop. The Committee must ensure that Nigerians are treated humanely and with dignity any where they reside in the world"

But has there been any improvement in the inhuman treatment meted to Nigerians in China? Has there been any in South Africa? Have our Embassy and Consulate staff sit up to their responsibility to seek the welfare of Nigerians in their different domains? Do they even have a record of the Nigerians in their domains? Do they hold meetings with them? Can you send your passport to them for any simple matter like endorsement of a child's name and not panic whether the passport will return to you or not? Can you get answers to your enquiry on the telephone? And if the telephone is picked can you get a polite response? Do Nigerians in Diaspora even feel the presence of their Government?

With the advent of internet where no one needs to carry any mail to the Post Office but can send thousands of letters at one go, just by clicking a button, do they communicate with Nigerians in their domain? Can the Nigerians in Diaspora get into problem and run to them for help? Yet these people are paid by the Nigerian State public treasury to look after Nigerians abroad among other things. Their normal salaries are paid into their different bank accounts at home and they are paid again at their different places of posting, yet would not do the job.

I post below a letter I received recently;

Dear Pastor,

My wife has been insisting I write this short letter to you since we read your article regarding the horror your children went through at the hands of Nigerian embassy in Atlanta. We thought we reading our own horror because of the similarity of the case and the tragedy of this Nigerian problem.

I was going to take my entire family to visit Nigeria for the first time and my wife who is originally from Europe had to get visa to get to Nigeria. Subsequent inquiries from the consulate and the website told us that this will take not more than three days to get the passport with the visa back to us. To cut the story short, we went through the same torture like your children with Mrs Rose Okonta in the Atlanta Consulate office insisting that my wife's passport was mailed back in a prepaid FedEx envelope that FedEx people said was not sent. For more than a week, and after we missed our original flight to Lagos, the passport was withheld by Ms Okonta until the head of the chancery in the consulate intervened to get the passport back. Numerous calls to the embassy were not successful and FedEx people were even calling the consulate to no avail. We were told later that is how the consular staff in this country make their money until you pay money to get your visa or passport back. You could imagine the agony in the face of my wife the image this has created in her mind for anything Nigerian. I had to beg her to go with me to my country of birth as she was deftly afraid of what could happen in Nigeria based on this experience right here in USA. She has felt the agony first hand and didn't want to go through another in a far away hopeless place. Ms Okonta is still there in Atlanta carrying on as usual, and Ojo Madueke is gallivating around the world. Just today again as I write this, a friend is going through the same problem and he's already missed the trip to Nigeria with his family. How long can this go on? Is their anything we can do?

I hope you can write on this subject again to your viewers and perhaps directly to the Nigerian officials especially at the foreign ministry to let them know the damage they are doing to their own image. Perhaps you can use your gift as a writer to force some change in that consulate or any other one that is tarnishing the image of the country. These people are devils and they need to be shown the way out.

Thanks so much

Biodun Oyewole. (March 4 2009)

(end of letter)

Be on the look out:

I have received many comments from readers since the start of this discussion. Many people have shared their different experiences and will not mind if shared with the larger audience. I plan to make them available in the nearest future.

Sam Aweda is President & Snr. Pastor, Jesus for the World Revival Mission

advertisement
IMAGES IN THE NEWS