Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has urged Nigerian youths to use technology and software applications to make the Bible available in various languages.
Osinbajo disclosed this on Thursday during the Christian leadership summit organised by the Bible Society of Nigeria, in Lagos.
The Vice President who spoke on the theme, ‘The Holy Bible: Our reliable foundation for maximising personal and national well-being,’ said a large percentage of Nigerians do not have the Bible in their local languages and also due to their lack of formal education.
He said, “We must actively and aggressively find the resources for printing and distributing the word of God. Technology will be a great help; we can crowd-fund. I am sure on the BSN website, we can get a page dedicated to those who want to contribute something or the other towards printing and translating the Bible.
“We can create an app; we can do a competition; we have a good number of young men and women today who are doing incredible software and all sorts of apps.
“Most people do not have the Bible in their local languages and more than half of these languages have not heard a single verse of scripture in their language and this automatically places the scriptures out of the reach of a large percentage of Nigerians who do not possess formal education.
“So, if so many of our people do not have direct access to the scripture, how will they know the plan of salvation and there is great benefit in the word of God, the Holy Bible, which is our reliable foundation for maximising personal and national well-being.
“I must say that this is a most audacious assertion that indeed there is a book that can build lives, but the good thing is that it is true.”
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said well-being has to start from individuals before it extends to the nation.
“It takes personal well-being for there to be collective well-being which comes from the family, community, state, nation and then globally. The Bible is the true foundation on which our nation is to be built. It is the fifth important instrument or aspect of Christianity; we have God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Church and the Bible,” he said.
Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, whose speech was read by the BSN President, Bishop Timothy Banwo, said, “Our subject of the discourse is centred on the pathway to discovering the truth which is the main prerequisite to freedom, whether personal or national.
“This summit seeks to explore the pathway to our collective liberty and well-being as a people. We are here to reaffirm and rearticulate our mission in the immutable supremacy of the word of God as the most efficacious bastion of civilization, national transformation and development as well as hope of life in the hereafter.”
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