Bishop of Awori Diocese of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, Rt. Reverend Akin Atere believes that Nigeria’s problem was generated not long ago through our leaders decision that gave us FESTAC ’77. Atere spoke to some reporters on the state of the church in Nigeria and present situation of the country.
Where did Nigeria get it wrong and how can we come out?
The genesis of the problem in Nigeria could be traced to when we invited gods to take over from Almighty God. What we are seeing today, is the impact and outcome of Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in 1977. After God had blessed us, we now gave glory to gods. For any keen observer, you will know that, that was where we got it wrong and till now, we have not gone back to God to say we are sorry.
In those days, most of the schools were run and administered by missionaries. The education then was balanced. Those who graduated from mission schools were morally mature, spiritually balanced and academically good. Most of those who are at the helm of affairs today had this opportunity. They were trained and you can see. But when government took over, they bastardized the educational system; whereas, education is the foundation of development of any nation. If you get education wrong, you get everything wrong and today, even the educational sector is in shambles. You have graduates in English that cannot express themselves in English. It’s so bad that even in the church there are people who lay claim to certificates they cannot defend.
Unfortunately, the church is also being affected. We now have selfish church leaders. All could be traced to the faulty educational foundation.
We have to go back to God. We need to go back to the basics and what our fore-fathers handed over to us as Christians and even in politics. If God can open the eyes of our first generation leaders and pastors to see what they left behind, I’m sure they will not be happy.
The church today is stinking more than the society. In fact, I’m afraid now to have much crowd in the church because when you see too much crowd in a church, you must be careful if the truth is being preached in that church. So, we need to repent, we need to be delivered because I cannot but say that, the end is very, very near.
How did the journey to priesthood begin with you?
My maternal grandmother took me over from my mother when I was just three months. I suckled on her breast as an infant. She was very committed to church activities. She believed every priest was next to God and so wanted a priest in the family.
She started nurturing me and focusing my attention to church. Right from infancy, I lived my entire life in the church. At age three, I joined the choir. That same year I joined the Boy’s Brigade. So, throughout the week, I was either in the church or at home. Growing up, each time there was a new priest in our church, my grandmother would ensure I interacted and possibly lived with them for a period of at least three months.
Unfortunately, while she wanted me to become a priest, I refused because of my exposure to the lives of the priests. They didn’t drink alcohol and they lived ascetic life, which I was not comfortable with. Despite their Spartan lifestyle, people still abused them. Rather than react, the priests spent time praying for those who persecuted them. So, I felt bad because I couldn’t cope with such a life. So, each time the selection conference came up at the Diocesan level, I would take off.
But there was this Archdeacon in our church; Late Pa Ayejoto who wanted me by all means and I think there was a sort of agreement between him and my grandmother. He started offering me opportunities to conduct services, starting from early morning services. I was even surprised the first day to hear myself talking to the congregation and I think that was where he picked interest in me. Later on, he allowed me to preach on Sunday and people appreciated it and they started addressing me as pastor. But I wasn’t yet convinced that God wanted me in the church. I thought my involvement with other groups in the church was enough for me as a sort of worship to God.
During the Selection Conference one year, I ran to Lagos but Iater went back when everyone who may want to apply had applied and when it was too late for anybody to accommodate me. On Easter Sunday, my Venerable then, Venerable Ayejoto now looked for an old form for Emmanuel College and gave it to me to fill. I filled it out of respect for him. I planned to get to the interview late and also spared my long beards. In the Anglican Church, pastors are not allowed to wear beards. I did everything so I could be disqualified. But all attempts to evade the priesthood did not bear fruit.
Seven were shortlisted from the Diocese to go to Ibadan for the final selection conference, I was the eighth. I took my own form to the Registrar myself whereas all completed forms had been submitted about two weeks before then, I was thinking also, that the Registrar would reject the form. He took it and I was invited to write the exams which took three days, having to face many panels for interviews. About two weeks after, news came that I and two others were shortlisted and admitted to the Seminary from 1984 and we graduated in 1987.
I later realised that my going to the seminary was the best thing that happened to me and my grandmother.
What other career would you have opted for if you did not attend the Seminary?
In those days, many aspired to be teachers because that was what was in vogue. I was aspiring to become a graduate teacher because I was already a Grade II teacher. I sat for WAEC after my Grade 11 certificate and thus had two certificates which qualified me to teach. We were allowed to teach class one to three since we were called Grade II School Certs. I wanted to be like the Graduate teachers. You had to pass JAMB and go through University before you can obtain that. Unfortunately or fortunately I would say, each time I sat for JAMB, I won’t pass even when others who were not as brilliant as I passed. There were times my results were seized. That frustrated my bid to go to the university when I wanted to.
After graduating from Emmanuel College, I was thinking that as usual, I would not be admitted. So, I applied for Direct Entry into LASU and was almost late for resumption not knowing that my name had been shortlisted. That opened a way for me. Today, I’m a proud holder of PhD.
The diocese has recorded improvements since you came in. What next should be expected from the Diocese?
Well, development will not stop. We are looking at investment because our people are not all that robust. In fact, with the situation of the country now, one should not depend on the contribution of members even those who give contributions now are not much so, it’s our intention to produce water and also to go into large scale Agriculture.
Even in the Bishop’s court complex, we still need a Chapel that will be open to the community to worship. Then, the plan of the Bishop’s court is for it to be converted to a Secretariat and as a Storey building but we cannot embark on that now. What we intend doing is to restructure it because where I am now is supposed to be the residence of the Vicar of this church. So, if I leave here, there will be room for the Vicar to come back here. All I need is a Bishop’s office if it can be created for me so that I will have both the residence and the office in the same place.
We also intend to develop our Bible College. We already have a permanent site. As God provides the funds, we will embark on several other evangelical and infrastructural projects.
What is the Anglican Communion doing to right some of these wrongs?
If there’s any church that is uncompromising as far as I’m concerned, it is the Anglican Church. Now, if you observe, politicians no longer come to our church. But the truth is that God is not interested in the death of a sinner. On the case of Chief Bode George who left the prison and went to our Cathedral for thanksgiving, it was not possible for you to ask him to go back, because he was a sinner. Why then do we have churches? You must allow sinners to come but you must tell them the truth.
Rumour has it that, the priest that told Chief Bode George to go and sin no more was punished and transferred to a remote church. Is that true?
That is not true. In fact, the priest who preached is a brother to my wife because they come from the same place. In fact, he was promoted. He was just an assistant to the Provost. He was transferred to St. Peters; another big church in Faji. He just left Faji now for another big church. So, he was never punished. Everybody praised him and the Bishop praised him for being courageous to say the truth.
What is the stand of the Church on homosexuality?
The Anglican Church stood our ground even at the global level. We have maintained the sanctity of the Bible. What God hate, we must hate. In fact, we no longer attend the Canterbury meeting; we now have our own forum for Anglican Churches who believe in the sanctity of the Bible. Our Primate has been consistent in speaking the truth to power. It is not in the nature of the Anglican Church to compromise. The reason behind this is because no matter what you are in this world, you are accountable to God. If you observe our Bishops are not all that rich because we depend on salaries and honorariums we get when we go out to minister. But in some cases, you see pastors living in affluence. Each time we come together, we discuss the affairs of the country, the affairs of the church and in most cases, we proffer solutions to problems as God gives us the wisdom.
As part of Christ’s gospel, he fed the people at some point when they were hungry. Does the Church make provision for meeting the needs of the needy?
We have what we call “welfare bank” where people come for food and clothing. What brought about that was that in one of our churches, a Sunday school pupil suddenly fell sick and it was terrible. Investigations later showed that the child didn’t eat anything for three days and the parents were in the church.
The first thing the Pastor did was to buy him a soft drink. After taking it, he was revived. It then occurred to us that some of our students that come for Sunday school don’t have access to good food. So, we called on people to donate food stuffs and clothing materials. That was how we formed the Welfare Bank.
We normally have all these food stuffs and we distribute it even during Christmas festival. We have invested so much in food stuffs for the less-privileged in our midst.