THE General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God Pastor Enock Adeboye has deplored Nigeria’s high debt burden and continued borrowings by the Federal Government.
In his sermon to commemorate Nigeria’s 61st Independence Anniversary on Sunday, the revered pastor said it was worrisome that the nation spent ’98 per cent’ of its revenues on debt servicing.
Adeboye, who leads one of the largest congregations in the country, gave his appraisal of the nation’s bleak economy a week after The ICIR published a report that showed that Nigeria was drawing closer to a debt trap.
When he was invited to preach at a programme in Abuja the previous Sunday, he asked economic experts what they meant by how much Nigeria needed to service its debt, he said.
“They said it is the interest we pay on the debt, something you pay so that they will know you are still alive.
“And they said what we needed to pay to keep the debt breathing is about 98 per cent of our income.
“We have problems. And we are still borrowing a little more,” Adeboye stated.
He said despite the economic situation in the country, God was able to turn the tide.
Speaking on insecurity, Adeboye said bandits and other marauders had broken all known norms while perpetrating their acts.
He said kidnappers had stepped up their game by kidnapping revered monarchs.
“We all know our problems. The kidnappers are not even kidnapping people on the road anymore. They go into the houses of rulers, kidnapping rulers. It is a sacrilege that you touch a ruler. When I was young, I don’t know what the situation has become; if you saw Kabiyesi (monarch) coming, you would move aside for him to pass. You would not want his dress to touch you. He has so much power, so much honour and majesty around. So, people go and kidnap a ruler?,” he queried.
He said with God’s intervention, there would soon be an end to economic hardship, banditry and kidnapping in the country.
Meanwhile, Adeboye said the deaths from COVID-19 in the country had been fewer than the number of people who died from snakebite within the last two years.
While emphasising the potency of prayers to arrest pandemic and other crises, the 78-year-old cleric said he read recently that the number of people who died from snakebite was about 2000 in the past year.
He said it meant that four thousand persons could have died from snake bites in two years.
He said people who died from COVID-19 were not up to 3,000 in the country since the nation recorded its first case of the pandemic in February 2020.
“They are less than those killed by snakebite because there is a God who answers prayers,” he said.
The ICIR reports that Adeboye was right on his data on snakebite and COVID-19 deaths.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ [email protected]