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Cleric hinges Africa’s underdevelopment on foreign aid

By Eniola Daniel
10 June 2019   |   3:17 am
No nation or society can prosper through soliciting for aids, says associate pastor, Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju, Lagos, Olakunle Soriyan. Speaking yesterday at the Harvesters International Christian Centre (HICC), Lagos, Soriyan said for Africa to be relevant in the comity of nations, it must start producing and utilising its raw materials. The principal transformation…

Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju, Lagos, Olakunle Soriyan. Photo/twitter/angelaochubaiye

No nation or society can prosper through soliciting for aids, says associate pastor, Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju, Lagos, Olakunle Soriyan.

Speaking yesterday at the Harvesters International Christian Centre (HICC), Lagos, Soriyan said for Africa to be relevant in the comity of nations, it must start producing and utilising its raw materials.

The principal transformation strategist of Olakunle Soriyan Company, said: “Poor people are the recipients of ideas; they are not the shepherds. The shepherds of an idea are in control of the system.

“Africa is not poor because we love poverty or because we don’t think; it is very poor because we produce what we don’t consume and consume what we don’t produce. The little we produce is assisted by nature; that is, if it is not crude oil, cocoa or gold, we cannot produce anything.

“But the world is not being governed by raw materials, which cannot create power.”

Criticising African leaders for queuing to get foreign aid without accountability, Soriyan added: “Africa is the world’s single largest liability. Our begging bowls have been our critical assets for years in which we have received aids from the world more than any continent. Yet we are still the world’s poorest continent; this is telling us that the begging bowl is not the pathway to prosperity, and for every degree of favour you seek, you lose a level of freedom, even if you are not aware of that law.”

According to him, Africa has been trading its freedom for aid.

“For every one pound we receive in aid, we give back about 14 pounds in trade restriction. As a matter of fact, we have never been assisted. There is something called balance of power; it comes from a nation bringing a high value that can be a need in another nation, and exchanging that value for what they need.”

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