As the Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) waxes strong in its primary assignments in the interpretation and distribution of Bible, the Chief Executive Officer and General Secretary, Dr Fredrick Babatunde Odutola, has enthused that he would not rest in his oars until the society hits its target in ensuring the presence of the bible not only in all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, but also in all Christian families before 2010.
Dr Odutola who spoke with Daily Sun in in Lagos, noted that his position at the BSN was not by personal decision but God's calling to apply his wealth of knowledge and administrative acumen to steer the 42-year old institution to excellence in its goals and objectives.
Background
I'm Rev Dr Fredrick Babatunde Odutola. I am the General Secretary of the Bible Society of Nigeria. I have been working here since the last 26 years. That means I've worked for more than half of my life because I was 50 on July 7. I joined The Bible Society of Nigeria in 1983. But incidentally, I found myself as the General Secretary of The Bible Society of Nigeria today.
In the course of the job, I did my LLB, BA English, LLB, PDG Journalism, MBA, MSC in Oxford, Doctorate in Divinity after going to Singapore for my first course in Divinity as well as advanced course in Spiritual Leadership. To the glory of God, I have won a series of awards. I was the Golden Poet in America in 1990.
What BSN is all about
It's a serious business. We do four major things. First, we translate the bible into Nigerian languages. The original old Testament of the Bible is rendered in Hebrews, while the New Testament is Aramic and Greek. Today, the Bible has been translated into over 2000 languages of the world. In Nigeria, we have 505 languages. The New Testament is in 16 Nigerian languages. We also have the scriptures in audio cassettes for those who cannot read and write to enable them listen to the word of God.
The second thing we do is publishing. We also mass-produce the works we translated. Last year, we brought 1.6 million copies of the Bible into Nigeria. We have been able to distribute 1.255 million copies to emerge the No 1 Bible distributor in Africa and the No 2 after America, while Australian is No. 3, South Africa 4. UK, the owner of the language is number 5, London 6 while Philippine is No 7.
We distribute the Bible to all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria. We have eight depots and 35 area offices. Our target is that nobody should travel more than two hours from his house to get the Bible. Our depots are in Lagos, Kaduna, Oshogbo, Onitsha, Aba and Jos.
Another thing we do is fund raising. The reason is that some people still find it difficult to afford the Bible even at the cheapest price. For instance, the prisoners, orphanage, women of easy virtue need to have the Bible free. So, some church members and corporate donors have been assisting us. For instance, there is a young man from Kogi State who has been donating N200,000 in the last seven and a half years every month.
We are also a member of the United Bible Society. We have 120 Bible Societies working in 200 countries in the world. But in Africa, we are the clear leader in terms of distribution of the Bible. In fund raising, we are second to South Africa.
Debut of BSN in Nigeria
BSN was founded as National Bible Society in February 1966, about 42 years ago. I happen to be the 7th National General Secretary.
Cost of translation
The cost of translating the Bible increases by the day. About five years ago, it cost us N12 million to translate a complete Bible, but today it costs us not less than N30 million to translate the Bible into one language. That is why we intensify our battle against piracy. If we have to charge the cost of translation on the people, majority of them won't be able to afford the Bible. Every translation exercise is computerised. Also, we have to get a translator who is vast in Hebrews to take it to the original language. So, there is no third party language anymore. We now translate directly from Hebrews to all the different languages. For instance, Dr David Momoh is our translator and consultant. He is now on course in Nairobi. He is a Hebrews scholar from Kogi State.
We pay the right price for the right people to do the job. It takes five years to translate the New Testament and seven years to translate the Old Testament. Altogether, it takes 12 years of hard work to translate a complete Bible into one language.
Piracy
In 2003, I addressed a press conference on piracy of the Bible and its implications on the Bible and The BSN. What happened was that somebody saw Bibeli mimQ instead of Bibeli Mimo in the market. The pirates were from Chicago. As white people, they mistakenly added letter Q instead of O in Yoruba translation. So, people raised alarm. That was how BSN knew that the Yoruba translation was being pirated.
At the press conference, I gave some basic features that distinguish the original Bible from the pirated one. I stressed that if any Bible did not have the logo of BSN (the Sower), it is not our (original) Bible. We also came up with a caveat emptor, warning buyers to beware of fake Bibles. Those who buy the pirated Bible as well as the pirates are guilty of the law. I also alerted the Copyrights Commission to assist in the war against piracy.
The major problem we are facing in piracy is that pirates are being aided and abetted. If they see enforcement agents coming they have a way of moving out of their base where they market the pirated Bibles.
About three months ago, I went to India and we were looking for Indira press which is being used by an Igbo man to do pirated job. They are not missionary-minded and they don't give anything free. Their interest is all about money. They reap from where they did not sow. They don't have overhead cost. So, they can under cost you because they don't pay for any job they do. They do whatever they like. Some people would go across the border and bring Bibles that are related to Nigeria and sell them.
These days, we don't just give out Bibles to prisoners free any more.
What we do is to go to the prisons, talk to the prisoners through the Prison Ministry and ask whoever wants a Bible to raise his hand because if you just give them the Bible, they would tear it, and use it to smoke. One of my friends in America told me that a prisoner in America whom he gave a free Bible free was rolling the books of Romans and using them for smoking Indian hemp. One day, the prisoner wrote to him saying, "Thank you very much for sending me a Bible. I just finished smoking through the book of Romans. So, we can only give Bible to prisoners based on convinction that they are ready to read and apply it as a covenant with God.
So, in tackling piracy, we let people realise that there are pirated works out there. For instance, if piracy is reported, we ask for return of bad copies. The trade mark we use to distinguish a fake Bible from the original is that we have the picture of a Sower as our logo. The pirated work can never carry this logo.
Bible in all nooks and crannies by 2010
We have initiated programmes towards achieving this dream. For instance, we have a programme called Reaching the Rural Dwellers. In most urban areas, people have more than one Bible now. At least there must be one Bible in every Christian family. So, our target of distribution now is the rural areas. We are still in 2008. Therefore, you can be sure that before 2010, we shall have reached all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.
Our oral scriptures in cassettes, MP3 CDS are also in wide circulation, respectively for the illiterate.
You can slot them in the car, at home, in the church to listen to the word of God. We are prepared to ensure that everybody has a copy of the Bible in whatever format in electronic Bible, audio Bible, CD Bible, MP3, cassette. There is Bible even on mobile phones.
Encouraging reading of the Bible
I urge every Christian to read the Bible religiously and apply it to their lives. Pastors and church leaders must dwell on the word where there is true life. For instance, the Bible says in Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." The substance of everything in life is Jesus. Only the word of God can lead us to Jesus. So, the word of God is important to everybody. It is the ultimate, not just miracle, prosperity, healing. Only the word of God can guarantee all these and eternal life.
By CLEMENT ADEYI
