Adefarasin Canvasses Innovative Ways to Re-engineer Political Process

Vanessa Obioha

Putting smiles on the faces of indigents and destitute spread across Lagos State through a charitable event ‘Project Spread’, the Senior Pastor of the Rock Cathedral Paul Adefarasin stressed the need for the government, private and faith-based sectors to conceive innovative ways to restructure the political process.

While addressing the about 800 less-privileged in an extended ground of the church’s premises in Lekki on the need to shun politicians gifts, get their voter cards and vote in the right people in the 2023 general elections, Adefarasin emphasised that through education, Nigeria will not only attain good leadership but compete at the world level.

He bemoaned the poor state of education in Nigeria, and how it has deteriorated in the past 40 years. He called on both the private and faith-based sectors to work with the government in revamping the educational system.

“We must educate our people. It’s a sad and crying shame that most governments across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory and the Federation as a whole, only appropriate a tiny little amount of money in terms of one to three per cent towards education. Now we don’t think the government should do it all. The private sector, the faith-based sector must come together to create innovative ways to not only challenge the government but to lead by catalytic example, to ensure that we educate the people because if you don’t have great human capital, how can you industrialise?

“We must remember that international politics is such that it does not want Africa to industrialise and as long as you don’t industrialise, remain a consumer nation, our Naira will continue to devalue and the possibility to create opportunities for our people so that they can grow and build a strong middle class, strong artisan class becomes a bleak vista where we don’t see any opportunity and the country will only get poorer and eventually it will lead to revolution. That’s what we do not need and the ethnic sentiment is too rife.”

Adefarasin underscored the importance to build into the education curriculum, a nationalist ideology that promotes unity, fairness and justice in society.

“We need to determinately decide to rebuild education systems and also rebuild regulatory institutions. So that we can institutionalise Nigeria to ensure that these excesses, this misbehaviour at the top, bottom, private sector, faith-based sector, the government that it ends. It can’t happen overnight as we re-educate into the cultural axioms of the Nigerian mind.”

Highlighting STEM as a major area for Nigeria to play in, he announced the church’s plans to build a tech hub for young persons.

The clergyman who is known for organising the biggest gospel music festival in Africa, The Experience, also clarified that he harbours no political ambitions and if he ever gets involved in politics, it will be in the local government because according to him, the government needs to begin at the grassroots.