The state of the Nigerian nation is very bad and the country has not fared well at all, the Methodist Church Nigeria Prelate, His Eminence, Dr Kanu Uche has stated.
The cleric was speaking while on the Episcopal Valedictory Tour to the Archdiocese of Umuahia, Abia State.
Speaking on the role of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), Uche stated,” It may not be his fault as a person, but he may have bad advisers.
“He has about almost 9 months to correct the ills, and can fix security, the economy, generate employment, and ensure that there is no division in the area of religion, or in the area of tribalism, and ethnicity.
“If he unites Nigeria, he will be the best leader ever. But Nigeria is most divided as never before”.
The Prelate who spoke exclusively to The PUNCH in Umuahia regretted that some faith-based universities are beyond the reach of faithful who funded the universities, stating, “Well, the Methodist Church has a university.
“In our own university, we are the first faith-based university that charges only N250,000. 00 per section and upon that, we still have more than 1/5 of our students who are from indigent families which we placed on scholarship. What the parents do is to buy for them, books and other things.
“These people are exempted from school fees. That is why it seems we are finding it difficult to run the university because, we are not exploiting people, but we see it as a social service.
“This way, Methodist church molded characters like Nnamdi Azikiwe of Africa, Michael Okpara, Obafemi Awolowo who attended our school, and even Osinbajo who attended our joint school with the Anglican Church, that is Igbobi College, Lagos.
“Many of our products are everywhere in Nigeria. They can attest to the fact that we gave them the best of education and care and we were not exploitative and not running education for gain, but we saw it as a social service.
“That is why we veered into hospital/health sector and other social services caring for motherless babies and mentally ill people.
“Methodist Church is the only church in Nigeria that has a centre for the mentally ill people at Itumbauzo (in Bende LGA of Abia State) where we pick them from the streets, rehabilitate them, give them a trade and integrate them back into the society.
“Again, Methodist church of yore, you remember Uzuakoli for leprosy, we were curing people with leprosy all over Nigeria, and we were known for motherless babies home.
“So, that was the legacy that the missionaries left for us and we kept them on. We have not relented”.
Kanu, who would be retiring soon, thanked God for making him what he is today, said, “Being a prelate is a glorious thing, but it has the good side, bad side and the ugly side because you are in charge of human beings. But the important point is that at the end of the day, we are leaving the church peaceful and united.”
