Richard Elesho
Governments at all levels have been charged to create the enabling environment for private sector participation as the sector can unlock the potential of a community faster than the government can ever do.
A clergyman, Evangelist Isaac Omolehin, Founder of The Word Commission International, and The Word Assembly Churches made the assertion in Lokoja on Friday.
He was speaking during a visit to the state-owned The Graphic newspaper as part of his itinerary for a crusade in the Kogi State capital. The crusade was to underscore his retirement from 50 years of active mission work. While explaining that he started his ministry in Kogi State, he added that he is glad to bow out in the state.
Omolehin noted that it was regrettable that Kogi remains a very backwards state despite being home to about 30 mineral deposits in commercial quantity out of the 34 available in Nigeria. He pointed to the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Company, and its equally comatose twin, Itakpe Iron Ore Company (both owned by the government), as examples of how not to run a business.
He decried the get-rich-quick syndrome among the youths and the commercialisation of Christianity by some pastors in the country and called for a paradigm shift by all members of the society to return the country to the path of a just and egalitarian society.
“I started from Kogi State. I went to Government Secondary School, Dekina. Kogi is blessed with abundant mineral resources and just only one that Dangote is exploring, see the number of persons he is employing.
“I pray that the private sector will take root here. The private Sector is the engine room for development. Graphic newspapers will soar when private organisations flourish in the state, and that is when Draphic will prosper.” He prayed
While disclosing that he has secured land in Ihima, Okehi LGA to build a Polytechnic and Bible College for the training and inculcation of core values in the younger generations, he said he is going into retirement in order to pursue other things he could not do because of his busy missionary schedules.
In a remark, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Graphic Newspapers, Yusuf Jimoh Itopa, commended the cleric for the propagation of the undiluted word of God in the last fifty years.
He added that his preaching has brought light to several communities in Kogi state, urging him not to relent even in retirement.