Nigeria’s challenges, blessing in disguise —Foursquare G.O., Revd Meduoye

His warm disposition and modest personality can be disarming for those who do not immediately identify him as the leader of one of Nigeria’s largest Christian congregations. General Overseer of Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, Reverend Felix Meduoye, explains how Christianity has evolved in the past 45 years since he gave his life to Christ in 1972, his take on restructuring the nation, what clerics have done as it relates to praying for President Muhammadu Buhari’s health, among other issues, in an encounter with RITA OKONOBOH.

The church declared 2017 as The Year of Increased Greatness. In the light of Nigeria’s current challenges, would you say the year has, indeed, been one of ‘increased greatness’ for Nigeria?

For Nigeria, I say yes. You may have reason to think it has not been a year of increased greatness when you consider the president’s absence. However, that is the way we, as humans, look at things. For us, it’s a year of increased greatness because, here is a nation that when you consider what has happened over the years, if not for God, this country would have been worse off. Thank God that we are still together. It’s really been a year of increased greatness. In the light of events, in my opinion, some level of restructuring is needed in this country because I think that is the only way we can see enlargement. Did you hear we now export yam? I see a lot of people coming with diverse visions for development. I was speaking with someone recently and I told the person what is happening to us now is a blessing in disguise. The thinking had always been that one can only succeed through reading and writing. However, now, even graduates see the potential in agriculture. It depends on how we look at it. For us as an organisation, it is a year of increased greatness for us because, by the grace of God, our vision for now is the ‘decade of multiplication.’ Somebody, who gave a testimony last week, said what we call multiplication is actually going on as churches are being established and the work of evangelism is being carried out actively. What else do we need? If people’s minds are touched and they give their lives to God, I believe good will follow.

What recommendations would you give to address Nigeria’s economic challenges?

To tell the truth, Nigeria is, at the moment, going through a recession. When people talk of recession, we sometimes understand it to mean something negative. However, sometimes, it is a prompter – a push – to help us address issues. For a long time, we know we have been a mono-product exporting country – the focus has been on oil. However, in recent times, there have been moves to diversify into other sectors like agriculture, mining, among others. Having said that, our problems actually have a lot to do with integrity in leadership. Not long before General Yakubu Gowon left, he declared what was referred to as the Udoji award and people had so much money and they bought things they didn’t even need. However, instead of thinking of making the country self-sufficient and economically-independent, people began to think of themselves. Leaders began to think of what they can get for themselves and that psyche took hold and that’s what we began to refer to as corruption. Truly, there’s corruption and that is the greatest problem we have today, and even with all we have done and said, it’s still there. We find those in leadership positions, even those who are jailed and released, get the applause of many people. As long as that remains, there will be problems. I think there has to be a kind of mental and ethical change from the basics. Some people are saying the old generation should go and the younger ones should take over. Some of the youths I see are also very corrupt. So, there has to be that change of heart and people should imbibe the spirit of integrity. The acting president said recently that the church has a role to play in this regard and that is part of what we are preaching. Our people need to understand that no country can survive unless the leaders are men and women of integrity. We need divine direction, because the issue of corruption is also spiritual. We need to come up with clear ideologies that will change the pattern. In spite of our diversity, we must come together to settle with the fact that we need integrity and a change of heart from the corrupt state we have found ourselves today.

You gave your life to Christ in 1972. Some people have expressed concerns that people only seem to pay lip service to their faith in recent times. When you consider what obtained at the time you became born again 45 years ago, what would you say the Christian community is not doing right at this time?

When I gave my life to Christ, which was a long time ago, churches were fewer. I don’t want to start with what people are not doing right. I will start by saying that this trend is not peculiar to this generation. Even back to the early days of Christianity, Christians were seriously persecuted until Constantine came in, and made it become, as it were, a state religion, and it became that if you were a Christian, you were on the safer side. Many people started coming to church, and when people start coming like that, they come for different reasons and then, pollution begins to come in. I don’t think it is different from what obtains now. To a large extent, I would say churches are still preaching many of the things they used to preach then. At the time I gave my life to Christ, for instance, when I was to get married, many of my people wouldn’t have attended because of the dictates of my faith. There were also challenges I experienced as a result of my being born again. At the time, if one chose to be a pastor, people would wonder why. When I was going into full-time ministry, my family and many others wondered why I would leave a job they described as lucrative to take up the work of being a pastor. Today, however, many people go into the ministry with other motives. When things begin to move that way, definitely, it will bring some level of spiritual weakening. I believe that is what has mainly happened in recent times. You know the devil is also working. Some people have come into the church not because they have truly given their hearts to God, but for ulterior motives. In fact, some of these things have affected even the prayers we say. In those days, we didn’t really focus on praying for money, but today if I say, ‘May God bless you and prosper you and that you will have a house tomorrow,’ you will hear the number of people that will say ‘Amen.’ That’s what happens now.

A few days ago, there were protests at Abuja which called on President Muhammadu Buhari to either return to the country or resign. In the days of the Bible, there were prophets who made declarations for leaders and things went well for them. Nigeria today has an ailing president, and has one of the biggest concentrations of ‘mega’ men of God. What exactly is being done by Christian clerics as regards the president’s health?

For me – I’m not one of the big ones – I pray for the president and I believe that many men of God are also praying for him. Who knows what would have happened if people were not praying? We need to see God’s hands always. Going back to your reference to the prophets in the Bible, you would know that the situations differed according to the kings. Humanly speaking, I want him to be healed. God, however, has His plans for our president and the country.

You talked earlier about the need for restructuring. In recent times, there have also been calls for secession. What is your message to the country at this time?

God is the Governor of all nations. My desire is that this country remains together, but there should be devolution of powers. In other words, there should be restructuring such that the lower level of government is given more authority to do things that will affect the immediate lives of the people positively. I think that too many things are concentrated at the centre. For instance, if there is a bad road somewhere, it would be difficult for the president to have an idea what the complaint of that road will be about. However, if we delegate and allow people at different levels to cater to these issues as it affects the lives of people, having taken care of the issue of corruption by insisting from the centre of integrity at all levels, things can work better. That’s why we need restructuring. Nigeria is a big country with so many people competing for the centre’s attention. When someone at the centre is being pulled in different directions, taking decision becomes very hard.

In 2010, you were installed as the fourth indigenous general overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria. Did you have any premonition that you would ascend to that position when you gave your life to Christ 45 years ago?

Far from it. I never thought I was going to be the general overseer. The only thing a little related to that was that a few months to the election, I heard some people say God told them I would be. Outside of that, I never thought I would be the general overseer. In fact, towards that, I placed myself in a position in which I tried not to be involved in too many church activities.

What has been the secret to your successfully leading one of Nigeria’s largest Christian congregations in the past seven years?

Well, if you say I have successfully done it, I would give the glory to God. But if you ask me the secret, I would say the secret is not in me, the secret is God. I’m not saying this just for the sake of making a statement of piety, but really because the people look unto Christ and they see that in the leadership of the church. Because they look unto Christ, with the help of God, I have had the support of the people. So, it’s been God.

What makes this year’s convention different from the ones you’ve had in previous years?

The convention will hold from November 13 to 19, 2017 with the theme, In Jesus Name. As part of activities for the convention, on October 11, 2017, there will be a public lecture at the national headquarters at Yaba, Lagos, with the theme, Making the Economy Work: A Job for All. We have been emphasising the place of Christ, but this time, with the theme, it’s like we’re hitting the nail on the head. It’s a huge frontline in the lives of many people than we have ever had before. One thing we know as to what God does is that God is always on the increase, and this being our 62nd convention, we believe it’s going to be better than what we have had before.