As Nigeria marks its 66th Independence Anniversary, the Lead Pastor and General Overseer of Victory Life Bible Church International, Apostle Lawrence Achudume, has called for a “change of heart” among Nigerians, saying the country’s renewal requires citizens and leaders who are willing to place national interest above personal gain.

Achudume made the call in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while addressing the congregation during a programme organised to pray for Nigeria.

Reflecting on the nation’s journey since independence, the cleric said countries were built by people prepared to make sacrifices for purposes greater than themselves.

“Ordinary sacrifice will produce ordinary results,” he said, stressing that the principle applied to nation-building just as it did to careers, businesses and personal development.

According to him, Nigeria’s challenges should not be allowed to obscure the country’s enormous human capacity.

“We are great people. We are intelligent people. Look at the best doctors on earth; look at the best engineers. Name it, and you will find Nigerians there,” he said.

He cited Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, alongside other accomplished Nigerians, as examples of the country’s intellectual and professional capacity, urging citizens not to speak negatively about Nigeria because of its present difficulties.

However, Achudume said national renewal also demanded character, noting that confidence and intelligence without discipline and integrity could become counterproductive.

Using the biblical account of King Amaziah, who did what was right but “not with a perfect heart,” he said the quality of leadership depended not only on what leaders did but also on the intentions and values guiding their decisions.

He argued that public policies must therefore be judged by their impact on ordinary citizens, citing the removal of fuel subsidy and increase in the minimum wage as examples of decisions whose consequences must be carefully considered.

Achudume also challenged Nigerians to change the culture of treating basic government responsibilities as favours from elected officials.

He said roads, markets, housing, transportation and other public infrastructure were part of the obligations attached to public office, adding that leaders who could not fulfil their responsibilities should give way to others.

Beyond governance, he urged Nigerians to remember the sacrifices of the country’s nationalist generation, including Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Anthony Enahoro, whose efforts contributed to the struggle for self-government.

“The labour of our heroes past shall not be in vain,” he said.

He also challenged young Nigerians to embrace enterprise, creativity and innovation, arguing that dependence on government alone could not build the Nigeria they desired.

According to him, those who change societies often make sacrifices long before the benefits of their efforts become visible.

Achudume further urged Africans to draw confidence from the continent’s history, citing the Benin Kingdom as evidence of the sophisticated societies that existed in Africa before colonial rule.

He called for leaders capable of independent thought and decisions based on the interests of their people, particularly when negotiating matters involving national resources.

Ultimately, however, the cleric’s message was one of hope.

He urged Nigerians not to abandon their country because of its difficulties, insisting that the nation still possessed the people and resources required to fulfil its potential.

“Don’t give up on Nigeria. Don’t give up. Nigeria will be great. Nigeria was born great,” he declared.

He added that the leaders capable of taking Nigeria forward might already be among the people but had yet to occupy positions of political authority.

“The people who are there now may not be the right people, but they will come. God will raise a people. They could be waiting somewhere,” he said.

For Achudume, therefore, Nigeria’s 66th Independence Anniversary should be more than a commemoration of the past, but an opportunity for citizens to examine the kind of country they are collectively building and the legacy they intend to leave for generations yet unborn.