Former National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Dr. Felix Omobude, has urged Nigerians to embark on self-transformation and regeneration in order to make the country better and transformed.

The cleric said this while fielding questions from newsmen shortly after his sermon at the grand finale of the 2024 Holy Convocation of the Victory Life Bible Church (VLBC) International, Victory City, Ajebo, Ogun State.

He disclosed that the problem with Nigeria is not lack of religion, but how to translate godly characters from the various worship centres into our national life to propel growth, harmony and development of the country.

Omobude, who is the General Superintendent of Gospel Light International Ministries (New Covenant Gospel Church) in Benin City, Edo State, called for a national attitudinal change, especially from people who profess to serve God, irrespective of the faith or denominations.

He said: “ You are either a Christian, a Muslim or African traditional religion. Everybody has something to say about God, but we need to translate it to national development. When you embrace Christ into your life, He gives you a total change. It is that total change that we need to take out of the church and out of our worship centres and take it out to the nation to change Nigeria for the better.”

Earlier in his message with the theme: “This Same Jesus,” the former PFN President urged Nigerians, especially Christians to always show gratitude to God and seek His guidance to harness and profit from the innumerable blessings, talents and opportunities He has deposited in the country.

The Lead Pastor of VLBC, Apostle Lawrence Achudume assured the people of a brighter future and called on Nigerians not to lose hope in the country.

Achudume enjoined Nigerians not to depend on government and politicians to bring about the desired change, saying everyone across the socio-economic strata should look inward and be resourceful to move the nation forward.

“There is hope, Jesus is still changing nations and changing lives. It is not about prayers alone. We are teaching Christians on entrepreneurship, business and godly matters to empower people to succeed in life and rebuild the nation. We have to renew our minds to build a new and prosperous nation.

“The first thing Christ did was to change the minds of people, remove hatred, anger, ethnicity and religiosity. Once, we have a renewed life, corruption will be a thing of the past, as we learnt contentment with Christ Jesus. With that, it will no longer be one person or a few people eating what belongs to all of us. Nobody will plunder our common wealth and social system will change. If I change, you change and every person changes, corruption will die,” he said.

The Senior Pastor of Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC), Matthew Ashimolowo, also threw his weight behind the N15 trillion 700-kilometer Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project of the Federal Government, describing it as a “necessity.”

The cleric who spoke on the economic importance and location of the project, said about 60 per cent of the businesses in Nigeria take place in Lagos, while the Southwest, Southsouth and Southeast regions, which he reckoned as “Nigeria’s basin of wealth,” lacked better roads.
He noted that the coastal highway when completed would decongest traffic on Lagos-Ibadan, Lagos-Ore expressways, fast-track movement of goods and persons and bring about accelerated growth and development in the South and the rest of the country.

Ashimolowo, who spoke with newsmen in Abeokuta, after delivering his sermon on the topic: “The Mark Of A Good Man,” that also doubles as homily at the 60th birthday celebration of the founder and Lead Pastor of Victory Life Bible Church International, Apostle Lawrence Achudume, advised the Federal Government not to neglect the existing deplorable federal roads in parts of the country, while working on the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway.

He also urged government to cut down cost of governance, devise other belt-tightening strategies to make funds available to help the poor.

He enjoined the Federal government to consider the Keynesianseconomic model, which entails government making companies to produce in excess while the government buys the surplus for distribution to the poor, saying this may help to bring out the nation from the woods.

Ashimolowo described Achudume as a learner and teacher who bears the mark of a good man with God’s presence resting on him, as evidenced in his intimacy with God.