Cleric Tasks Nigerians On Relationship With God

The General Superintendent of Praise Centre Ministries Inc. Owerri, Bishop Stafford Nwaogu, has called on Nigerians to develop an intimate relationship with God for the nation to move forward.

He made the call on Saturday in Owerri, while briefing newsmen on the forthcoming 16th Anniversary/2010 Convention of the church.

He said, “intimate relationship with Christ which is the theme of the convention, will heal our nation of corruption and poverty.”

Such relationship, the pastor observed, would inspire political leaders to render selfless service to the people and engender patriotism among the populace.

Nwaogu said the convention would serve as a wake- up call for Nigerians and stressed that it was regrettable that in spite of God’s abundant endowments on Nigeria, the people still lived in abject poverty.

He said “even with the orchestrated poverty alleviation programme by the government and political office holders, poverty remained on the increase.’’

He said the church would use the convention to “reawaken and sharpen the people’s minds” with a view to making them creative and innovative in charting a new course for self-empowerment.

The pastor described poverty as “a matter of the mind” and said the church would use the convention to sensitise the youth to change their attitudes and engage in menial but decent jobs to fend for themselves.

“One can start up a little enterprise to eke out a living rather than roam about in the streets complaining about unemployment,” he said.

Nwaogu blamed kidnapping on poverty and accused politicians of using poverty as a weapon against the people.

He appealed to the political leadership to proclaim total liberty in all spheres of the nation’s life as Nigeria celebrated its golden jubilee of political independence.

He prayed that the jubilee celebration should reflect in the manner INEC would conduct the 2011 polls in order to boost the nation’s image before the international community.

“There should also be liberty in the practice of journalism, in such a way that journalists should be free to write on societal ills without fear of molestation,” he said.

He prayed that the celebration would throw up leaders that “will be people-conscious rather than self-conscious” as well as sound and upright families.