The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to move the country away from a consumer economy to a production economy, ensuring that Nigeria is able to manufacture what its citizens use or consume, including clothes, food, and cars.
Additionally, the PFN called on President Tinubu’s administration to invest heavily in the agricultural sector to ensure food security in the country and to bring about further reductions in the prices of petroleum products and commodities.
Re-elected National President of the body, Bishop Wale Oke, made the call at a press conference following the inaugural joint meeting of PFN NAC/NEC on Tuesday in Lagos.
Bishop Oke, who expressed concerns over instability in foreign exchange, hardship in the country, and hikes in fuel and food prices, commended Alhaji Aliko Dangote for his efforts in helping the government reduce the burden of fuel product availability. He also emphasised the need for unity and togetherness across all regions of the country.
“The economy should be looked into, and we should move away from the consumer economy to the production economy. Let us manufacture what we use, our clothes, food, and cars.
“The government should invest heavily in the agricultural sector so that there will be food security for our nation; the government should see to a further reduction in petroleum prices so that the prices of commodities can be lowered.
“Let us move away from the consumer economy to a productive economy. Let us invest in the agricultural sector and bring down the prices of petroleum products. We also commend Aliko Dangote for what he is doing to help the government in reducing the burden of fuel products,” he said.
Appealing to the governors in the northern part of the country over the closure of some schools due to ongoing Ramadan fasting, the faith leader stressed the need to practise religion with wisdom and grace, in order not to jeopardise the future of the affected children.
He urged the governors to reverse the policy, saying that they should adopt “policies that will advance the course of our children’s education, not anything that will retard them.”
“I want to admonish the governors to reconsider their stand to make sure the future of our children is not jeopardised because of these kinds of policies. The governors should be doing things that will advance the course of our children’s education, not anything that will retard them. We are praying for the governors for wisdom and to intensify these policies,” he said.
Speaking further, Bishop Oke assured that PFN, as a spiritual body that God had blessed and had thus become politically relevant by virtue of its size and influence, would pray for, labour, and contribute to the economic prosperity of the country, adding: “Nigeria shall prosper greatly through the mercy of God.”
The cleric further assured that PFN remained friends, co-compatriots, and co-labourers of political leaders across the country, no matter the party they belonged to, “in building a united, prosperous, egalitarian Nigeria that shall become a truly great nation, blessed by the Lord, respected across the globe, a nation ‘where no man is oppressed.'”
“We will pray, speak, and work against all vices, crimes, violence, and evils in our society, asking the Lord to eliminate them from our nation, so we may all live ‘a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty’ as directed in the Scriptures.
“We will intensify our efforts on the political education of all our members nationwide, so that they may happily participate in the political process of our nation and the emergence of God-fearing leaders at every level of our national political structure.
“We shall work hard to complete and conclude the agenda we set out during the first tenure of our administration of PFN over the last four years. We trust the Lord to give us His help in all these and other agendas we have set for PFN for the next four years.
“As it has been the culture of PFN from inception, we shall all work together, irrespective of the tribe, race, region, or zone that any of us may come from in Nigeria, in the unity of the spirit and genuine brotherly love. This is our culture in the PFN, and nothing can change that.
“We are grateful to God for His abundant blessings on PFN over the past 40 years of its existence.
“We appreciate and celebrate the past administrations of PFN at the national, state, and local government levels for laying the solid foundation upon which we are standing to move PFN forward as God’s instrument of mercy and blessing for our nation, Nigeria,” Oke stated.
“May God continue to bless the PFN and the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he prayed.
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