Govts Have Failed Nigerians, Cleric Alleges

Govts Have Failed Nigerians, Cleric Alleges

The General Overseer of Gospel Herald International Church, Dr. Caleb Ayanwusi yesterday lamented the failure of governments at all levels to discharge their duties to the people under the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Ayanwusi, also, blamed the governments for increasing poverty, collapse of the standard of living of the vast majority of people of Nigeria, fall in life expectancy and the unrest and violence trailing these deprivations.

He made these allegations during the presentation of seed money to 35 graduates of the skill acquisition and training programme organised by the Caleb Ayanwusi Foundation (CAF) in Lagos yesterday.

At the presentation, Ayanwusi accused the governments of flagrant violation of the spirit and letters of the 1999 Constitution, which stipulated that the primary purpose of government is the welfare and security of Nigerians.

Contrary to this provision, Ayanwusi said the government at all levels had not only abandoned this social contract, but also weaponised poverty, which was the opposite of this constitutional injunction, to wage war against the people.

He warned that if the government failed without further delay to live up to its responsibilities as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, the country might not survive the collapse and break-up which according to him was staring her in the face.

The cleric urged those vested with the mandate of the people to return to the part of honour by taking seriously the welfare and security of Nigerians.

He, however, commended some Nigerians, who according to him were making daily sacrifices in different forms, including cash donation to finance empowerment programmes like the one CAF did at the weekend.

While acknowledging the support of the Managing Director of Precious Paint Limited, Mr. Adeyemi Oke, among others, who pledged to support the next round of the empowerment programme scheduled for early next year, Ayanwusi admonished the graduates to make good and profitable use of the skills they acquired and the interest-free seed money they were given.

He noted that what they were given provided them the opportunity to take their destiny in their hands without waiting for a government that had continued to fail them.

He traced the root cause of the crises bedevilling the country to poverty and went ahead to declare unequivocally that the moment the government addressed the twin issue of welfare and poverty, the end would automatically come to over 90 percent of the crises and problem in the country.

A beneficiary, Mrs Cordelia Nlewem noted that truly an idle hand was the devil’s workshop but that when people were gainfully engaged, their hands and time would not be available to be deployed for criminal activities.

She thanked the organisers for helping her to actualise her long time ambition to learn soap making which hitherto she was not able to do because she could not afford the trading fees of N10, 000.00, but had now acquired it free and in addition given seed money to start off.

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