Are we doing what is right or just paying lip service to entrepreneurship in Nigeria in the last 8 years?
We have not really done much concerning entrepreneurship in the last eight years and there are reasons for this. The way we were brought up during the colonial days did not facilitate entrepreneurship. When we got out of colonialism, we soon fell into inter-tribal politics, political problems which culminated into civil war, coups upon coups and so we had no time to settle down as a nation.
Not until recently that we begin to see some initiatives and the people are now trying to develop themselves and asking the government to develop some facilities and the governments begin to put up some structures like the micro-credit finance schemes, etc.
Earlier, only the rich have access to telephones, bank loans, etc. If you have cottage businesses or a small farm, you are shut off from loans because banks only look at the faces of the rich. But now, if you want N5, 000, N50, 000, etc to do things, such banks are there are I think this is a serious attempt to help the common man. This is the stuff of assistance that helped the Asian countries, people creating jobs for themselves rather than waiting on the government to employ them.
The Micro-credit you mentioned, are Nigerians aware of it?
I don't think there is much publicity on this, because even me, a graduate, a pastor who reads newspapers daily and listens to the news was not aware. This goes to show how many people know of this and the level of publicity the people involved know of it.
But recently, I came across a Church member who told me he works there, and I asked what they do and what level of publicity they have. After some explanations, I then told him to invite their director to come and speak at our convention. These are the type of things they should be doing. So when he came, he said they plans to go to the market, go on the streets on tricycles to distribute leaflets so people could be aware of what they do. These are what they should be doing to attract publicity and help the people.
Can entrepreneurship be taught or is it innate?
I believe that it can be taught whole to some people it is innate. Some people just know how to turn a cent into a dollar, even when they have little or no education.
An entrepreneur is one who looks at a situation and knows it can get better and takes initiative to turn something on for a greater fulfilment in the long run. I think a lot of us should know that that is the way for a lot of us to get out of poverty and that it is the will of God. There are so many scriptural verses supporting getting out of poverty and that does not mean it has to be overnight.
Challenges will come but we should persevere. The Bible says let him that steals steal no more but work with his hands. That is entrepreneurship. Don't sit down and think things will fall from the sky. When God will bless, He blesses the work of your hand. That is entrepreneurship.
Coming to our Church constituency, I have seen many areas where people are taught half truth: miracles, miracles, miracles. I believe in miracles but Jesus was an entrepreneur before he entered the ministry. Joseph, his father was also a carpenter. It was a family business.
Paul was an entrepreneur. Paul demystified it and showed us that you cannot live on the ministry solely. So I think we have not taught our people well in this Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity. We need to teach our people how to start and nurture businesses, how to use money with integrity, how to multiply the little the have, how to be patient.
This prosperity, miracles messages is fanning the flame of impatience in people. The people now think wealth happens only by the magic of prayer and no work. We need to let the people know that real enduring wealth is built over time. It is a gradual rise, not the one you get overnight like an armed robber.
How do you react to Churches having entrepreneurial classes? Is it a diversion from the purpose of the Church?
I think I have come to see and believe that pastors are getting more powerful than political leaders these days. If a governor says do this and a pastor says don't do it, I find out that Christians will rather obey their pastors than their political leaders. So, the power of the pastors is tremendous and it must be used to better the lives of their members.
After 20 years in full time ministry, I have come to know that there are other areas of the ministry we have not properly been teaching our people. I read statistic about our country recently. It says that the poverty level in Nigeria is 70%. That means people who cannot live above a dollar a day. That is the UNO figure, though the Nigerian government says it is lower than that. That is scandalous.
That is not the only thing but they added that it has not changed in the last ten years!
Now what I ask is: have not more Churches come up in the last ten years? Have we not seen more crusades in the last ten years? Have we not seen more mega-Churches in the last ten years? That means that the Church has not been teaching the proper gospel. If the poverty level is not reducing, then we pastors are teaching nothing. Or may be the message we teach is not complete.
Then I began to pray and asking God, what is wrong? Then He said, there are some other aspects we have not been teaching. Yes, we teach giving, tithing, etc but we are not teaching entrepreneurship, labour, work, how to be a good employee, how to start business, how to persevere. We need to combine it with what we have been teaching before. I heard God clearly after months of seeking His face on this.
So we started something in the year 2006, called Institute of Governmental and Entrepreneurial Leadership (IGEL). It's like a bible school for entrepreneurs and governmental people. We ran courses. What He told me was to get delivered people, Christians in entrepreneurial and governmental circles to train them. Train market missionaries to take over the governmental work and entrepreneurial leadership, to be prepared in the house of God and be released into the market place.
The Lord told me that this is one area that has not been filled in the land. So we spoke to some people like the Commissioner of Justice Lagos state, Prof Yemi Osibajo who is now one of our lecturers, another person is a partner with an accounting firm, Accenture, Mr Segun Olujobi and some more people. We are planning another for May 2007.
When we had the first one, people were so fired up, it is not just the five-fold ministries that will change the land. This is a dream He has given us and I'm aware some other churches have other initiatives.
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