David Edozie Onochie unveils platform to help Nigerian youths battling addictions 

The pastor who spent years in private struggle with pornography is now building rooms where young Nigerians can talk about it.

For David Edozie Onochie, founder of Saved2Save International, the fight against addiction is not a cause he picked. It is the story he lived, and the reason Freedom Experience exists.

For most of his life, David Edozie Onochie carried a secret he was sure nobody around him shared. From a young age until his late twenties, he struggled with pornography, while going to church, serving and, by every outward measure, doing well.

“I was in church every week. I was serving. People looked at me as someone who had it together,” Onochie said. “Inside, I was losing the same battle again and again, and the shame of it kept me quiet. I genuinely believed I was the only one.”

That silence, he says, was more damaging than the habit itself. It meant years of trying to fix it alone, in secret, with nobody to be honest with.

“What changed things for me was not one dramatic moment,” he said. “It was the first time I told someone the full truth and they didn’t walk away. That was when it stopped being a secret I was managing and became something I could actually get free from.”

His story is far from unusual. In 2019, the World Health Organization added compulsive sexual behaviour disorder to its International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), describing a persistent failure to control intense, repetitive sexual urges despite clear harm to a person’s life. The recognition gave clinicians a shared language. Yet in many Nigerian homes and churches, compulsive pornography use is still something people live with quietly rather than talk about, and young people often have no idea where to turn.

That gap is what Onochie set out to close when he founded Saved2Save International, a faith-based nonprofit that works with young people struggling with addiction, shame and destructive habits. Its flagship event, Freedom Experience, held its second edition on 7 November 2026 at Celebr8 Centre HQ in Ogba, Ikeja. Co-hosted by Onochie and Ebby Onochie, it drew more than 5,000 registrations.

The format reflects his own experience. Freedom Experience is built around No Cap Sessions, open and unscripted conversations about addiction, identity and relationships. Trained psychologists and a rehabilitation partner are on site, and private spaces let people ask for help without saying anything in public.

“Faith and professional help are not rivals,” Onochie said. “Some people need prayer and a community. Some need a psychologist. Some need treatment. Most need more than one. Our job is to make sure nobody leaves the room without knowing what their next step is.”

The 2026 edition brought together speakers including Apostle Emmanuel Iren, Frank Ikemefune, Kachi Offiah, Pastor Joshua Kesena, Maryam Eje, Pastor Jerry Oputa, PlaywithTomide, Anastasia Okorie and Dr Foy.

Onochie is also direct about what he wants parents, pastors and leaders to understand.

“When a young person finally tells you what they’re struggling with, your first reaction decides whether they ever speak again,” he said. “If they’re met with shock or shame, they go back underground. If they’re met with honesty and care, recovery can actually start.”

His long-term vision goes well beyond a single event each year. Eden Academy, Saved2Save’s planned training academy, is designed as a place for discipleship, accountability and practical training, where people who find freedom can sustain it and go on to help others do the same.

“An event can open a door,” he said. “Eden is about what happens on the other side of it, for the next ten years of someone’s life, not just the next ten days.”

Anyone seeking support, or wanting to follow Saved2Save’s work, can follow @freedomexperience2.0 on Instagram or email thefreedomexperienceintl@gmail.com.