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Praying While Nigeria Burns: How Religious Cowardice Has Replaced National Responsibility

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Praying While Nigeria Burns: How Religious Cowardice Has Replaced National Responsibility

By George Omagbemi Sylvester

In a country where churches and mosques line every street corner, where vigils echo louder than town hall meetings and where men of God are treated like royalty, Nigeria in 2025 is still groaning under the weight of insecurity. From banditry in the North-West, terrorism in the North-East, secessionist unrest in the South-East and rampant kidnapping across the South, Nigerians continue to live under siege. Yet, rather than confronting the root of this evil, too many of our religious leaders are asking citizens to “pray harder.”

If prayer alone could guarantee security, we would not need the police, the military, intelligence services or national security councils. We would simply replace the Ministry of Defence with a Ministry of Intercession. Unfortunately, this is not heaven, it is a country under attack and prayer is not a national security policy.

The Dangerous Illusion of Prayer as a Policy

The recent calls from Nigerian clerics urging citizens to “seek God’s intervention” against rising insecurity are not just misguided, they are dangerously irresponsible. It represents a national culture of escapism, one that tries to outsource responsibility to divine forces rather than holding government accountable or proposing concrete solutions.

As the saying goes, “God has no hands but ours.” Even the Bible itself warns against blind faith without action. James 2:17 declares: “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” In Islam, the Hadith encourages believers to “tie your camel first, then put your trust in Allah.” So why are Nigeria’s men of God promoting helplessness?

Nigeria’s Grim Security Reality
According to the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2024, Nigeria remains one of the top 10 countries most impacted by terrorism, trailing only behind countries like Afghanistan and Syria. Boko Haram, ISWAP, Fulani herdsmen and bandits have killed over 80,000 Nigerians since 2011. The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) reported that over 5,000 Nigerians were killed or kidnapped between January and October 2024 alone.

President Bola Tinubu’s administration has repeatedly promised security reform, but the streets tell a different story. Communities in Zamfara, Niger and Borno continue to pay “taxes” to bandits. Schools are shut down in large swathes of the North for fear of abductions. In the South-East, military checkpoints have turned into extortion points while criminals hide under political agitation.

Yet, despite these glaring facts, instead of storming government houses with demands for justice and reform, our spiritual leaders are organizing “national days of prayer.”

Spiritual Cowardice in Robes and Collars
Many of Nigeria’s revered pastors and imams have simply chosen the path of least resistance. Rather than speak truth to power like the prophets of old like Elijah who confronted kings or Imam Ibn Taymiyyah who defied tyrants, they’ve become chaplains of the corrupt elite. Their pulpits are now platforms for praise-singing those in power, not calling them to accountability.

When was the last time you heard a popular megachurch pastor directly criticize Nigeria’s defense budget mismanagement? Or an influential imam demand police reform beyond platitudes? What we hear instead are sermons about “spiritual warfare” against “evil forces in high places” a euphemism that conveniently keeps them from naming names.

As Martin Luther King Jr. rightly said, “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” Nigeria’s religious leaders are betraying their flocks by cloaking cowardice in the garment of faith.

The Economics of Prayer-Based Leadership

Part of the reason religious leaders lean so heavily on prayer is because insecurity is good for business. The more afraid people are, the more likely they are to run to churches and mosques for solace. It creates a dependency loop, terror feeds fear, fear drives faith and faith fills offering baskets.

Nigeria’s religious industry is worth billions. Churches and mosques build estates, own private jets and have media empires. In many parts of Nigeria, clerics wield more power than governors. But what do they use that influence for? Is it to demand security architecture reform? No. It is to tell you that you were kidnapped because your “spiritual hedge was down.”

There is a difference between spiritual leadership and religious profiteering. The latter thrives in chaos.

What Real Leaders Do

History provides us with examples of faith leaders who were not afraid to fight for justice. Archbishop Desmond Tutu in apartheid South Africa used the church as a base for resistance, not resignation. Malcolm X spoke against oppression from the mosque, not merely prayed it away. In Nigeria, the likes of Archbishop Anthony Olubunmi Okogie and Sheikh Gumi (in his earlier years) stood for justice not silence.

The role of the clergy should be prophetic not passive. Nigeria does not need intercessors who romanticize passivity; we need warrior-priests who will take bold stands and tell the government, “Your failure is unholy.”

Security Is a Civic Duty, Not a Spiritual Event

The Nigerian government budgets billions for defense. In the 2024 national budget, over N3.25 trillion (about $2 billion) was allocated to security, yet insecurity remains a constant. The issue is not prayer; it is poor governance, corruption, lack of intelligence coordination and under-equipped forces.

Prayer is a private discipline; security is a public responsibility. No amount of fasting can stop a bandit with an AK-47. What stops him is law enforcement, intelligence and effective prosecution. Those who keep shifting the burden to God are enabling the failure of man.

As Thomas Jefferson once said, “God helps those who help themselves.”

What Must Change?

Religious Accountability: Men of God must be held to account for what they preach. Those who perpetuate fear instead of faith, and compliance instead of courage, should be challenged publicly.

Civic Education: Citizens must be taught that while prayer is valuable for personal peace, it is no substitute for civic engagement. Nigerians must demand results from security agencies, lawmakers and local leaders.

Security Reform: The Nigerian government must invest in not just military hardware but in intelligence, rapid response units, community policing and forensic investigation capabilities.

Courageous Clergy: Nigeria needs a new generation of fearless clerics, imams and pastors who will occupy not just prayer grounds, but protest grounds.

Demystify Religious Authority: Nigerians must stop giving religious leaders uncritical reverence. Ask questions. Demand clarity. Challenge false narratives.

Final note
Nigeria’s insecurity crisis is not just the failure of government; it is the silence of the pulpit. While prayer is noble, when used to mask cowardice, it becomes spiritual malpractice. The nation is bleeding. Children are being kidnapped. Farmers are being slaughtered. Soldiers are dying. And instead of resistance, we get prayer requests?

If Jesus overturned tables in the temple to cleanse corruption, what excuse do today’s religious leaders have for shaking hands with tyrants and thieves? If Prophet Muhammad led his followers to battle for justice, why are Nigerian imams calling for passivity?

A praying nation is a powerful thing. But a nation that prays without action is doomed to die with folded hands.

Praying While Nigeria Burns: How Religious Cowardice Has Replaced National Responsibility
By George Omagbemi Sylvester

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Rt Hon Treasure Edwin Inyang Appointed Secretary General to the Government of UKA (Worldwide)

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Rt Hon Treasure Edwin Inyang Appointed Secretary General to the Government of UKA (Worldwide)*

Rt Hon Treasure Edwin Inyang Appointed Secretary General to the Government of UKA (Worldwide)*

 

January 29, 2026 – A prestigious appointment has been announced in the reign of Emperor Solomon Wining 1st, recognizing Rt Hon Treasure Edwin Inyang as the *Secretary General to the Government of UKA (Worldwide)*. The official certificate, designated STE.001-1 E, was presented to Rt Hon Inyang during a ceremonial investiture.

 

As Secretary General, Rt Hon Treasure Edwin Inyang will *monitor and coordinate* the implementation of government policies and programmes, serve as an advisory institution to the Government, drive policy formulation, harmonization, and implementation, and oversee the activities of ministries, agencies, and departments.

 

The appointment was proclaimed by *Emperor Prof. Dr. Solomon Wining*, Emperor of the United Kingdom of Atlantics and Empire Worldwide, and co-signed by *Empress Prof. Dr. Sriwan Kingjun*, Empress of Attica Empire, under the auspices of the 5 Billions Humanitarian Projects Incorporated.

 

The ceremony underscores the commitment to strengthening governance and humanitarian initiatives within the UKA (Worldwide) jurisdiction, effective immediately in the reign of Emperor Solomon Wining 1st.

Rt Hon Treasure Edwin Inyang Appointed Secretary General to the Government of UKA (Worldwide)*

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GENERAL BULAMA BIU MOURNS BOKO HARAM VICTIMS, CALLS FOR UNITY AND RENEWED EFFORTS FOR PEACE

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GENERAL BULAMA BIU MOURNS BOKO HARAM VICTIMS, CALLS FOR UNITY AND RENEWED EFFORTS FOR PEACE

 

In a solemn message of condolence and resolve, Major General Abdulmalik Bulama Biu mni (Rtd), the Sarkin Yakin of Biu Emirate, has expressed profound grief over a recent deadly attack by Boko Haram insurgents on citizens at a work site. The attack, which resulted in the loss of innocent lives, has been condemned as a senseless and barbaric act of inhumanity.

 

The revered traditional and military leader extended his heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families, the entire people of Biu Emirate, Borno State, and all patriotic Nigerians affected by the tragedy. He described the victims as “innocent, peaceful, hardworking and committed citizens,” whose lives were tragically cut short.

 

General Biu lamented that the assault represents “one too many” such ruthless attacks, occurring at a time when communities are already engaged in immense personal and collective sacrifices to support government efforts in rebuilding devastated infrastructure and restoring hope.

 

In his statement, he offered prayers for the departed, saying, “May Almighty Allah forgive their souls and grant them Aljannan Firdaus.” He further urged the living to be encouraged by and uphold the spirit of sacrifice demonstrated by the victims.

 

Emphasizing the need for collective action, the retired Major General called on all citizens to redouble their efforts in building a virile community that future generations can be proud of. He specifically commended the “silent efforts” of some patriotic leaders working behind the scenes to end the security menace and encouraged all well-meaning Nigerians to join the cause for a better society.

 

“Together we can surmount the troubles,” he asserted, concluding with a prayer for divine intervention: “May Allah guide and protect us, free us from this terrible situation and restore an enduring peace, security, unity and prosperity. Amin.”

 

The statement serves as both a poignant tribute to the fallen and a clarion call for national solidarity in the face of persistent security challenges.

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When a Nation Outgrows Its Care

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When a Nation Outgrows Its Care.

By George Omagbemi Sylvester | Published by SaharaWeeklyNG.com

“Population Pressure, Poverty and the Politics of Responsibility.”

Nigeria is not merely growing. It is swelling and faster than its institutions, faster than its conscience and far faster than its capacity to care for those it produces. In a world already straining under inequality, climate stress and fragile governance, Nigeria has become a living paradox: immense human potential multiplied without the social, economic or political scaffolding required to sustain it.

This is not a demographic miracle. It is a governance failure colliding with cultural denial.

Across the globe, societies facing economic hardship typically respond by slowing population growth through education, access to healthcare and deliberate family planning. Nigeria, by contrast, expands relentlessly, even as schools decay, hospitals collapse, power grids fail and public trust erodes. The contradiction is jarring: a country that struggles to FEED, EDUCATE and EMPLOY its people continues to produce more lives than it can dignify.

And when the inevitable consequences arrive (unemployment, crime, desperation, migration) the blame is conveniently outsourced to government alone, as though citizens bear no agency, no RESPONSIBILITY, no ROLE in shaping their collective destiny.

This evasion is at the heart of Nigeria’s crisis.

The political economist Amartya Sen has long said that development is not merely about economic growth but about expanding human capabilities. Nigeria does the opposite. It multiplies human beings while shrinking the space in which they can thrive. The result is a society where life is abundant but opportunity is scarce, where children are born into structural neglect rather than possibility.

Governments matter. Bad governments destroy nations. Though no government, however competent, can sustainably provide for a population expanding without restraint in an environment devoid of planning, infrastructure and accountability.

This is where the conversation becomes uncomfortable and therefore necessary.

For decades, Nigerian leaders have failed spectacularly. Public education has been HOLLOWED out. Healthcare has become a LUXURY. Electricity remains UNRELIABLE. Social safety nets are virtually NONEXISTENT. Public funds vanish into PRIVATE POCKETS with brazen regularity. These are not disputed facts; they are lived realities acknowledged by development agencies, scholars and ordinary citizens alike.

Yet amid this collapse, REPRODUCTION continues unchecked, often CELEBRATED rather than QUESTIONED. Large families persist not as a strategy of hope but as a cultural reflex, untouched by economic logic or future consequence. Children are brought into circumstances where hunger is normalized, schooling is uncertain and survival is a daily contest.

The philosopher Hannah Arendt warned that irresponsibility flourishes where accountability is diffused. In Nigeria, responsibility has become a political orphan. The state blames history, colonialism or global systems. Citizens blame the state. Meanwhile, children inherit the cost of this mutual abdication.

International development scholars consistently emphasize that education (especially of girls) correlates strongly with smaller, healthier families and better economic outcomes. Nigeria has ignored this lesson at scale. Where education is weak, fertility remains high. Where healthcare is absent, birth becomes both risk and ritual. Where women lack autonomy, choice disappears.

This is not destiny. It is policy failure reinforced by social silence.

Religious and cultural institutions, which wield enormous influence, have largely avoided confronting the economic implications of unchecked population growth. Instead, they often frame reproduction as a moral absolute divorced from material reality. The result is a dangerous romanticism that sanctifies birth while neglecting life after birth.

The Kenyan scholar Ali Mazrui once observed that Africa’s tragedy is not lack of resources but lack of responsibility in managing abundance. Nigeria exemplifies this truth painfully. Rich in land, talent and natural wealth, the country behaves as though human life is an infinite resource requiring no investment beyond conception.

This mindset is unsustainable.

Around the world, nations that escaped mass poverty did so by aligning population growth with state capacity. They invested in people before multiplying them. They built systems before expanding demand. They treated citizens not as numbers but as future contributors whose welfare was essential to national survival.

Nigeria has inverted this logic. It produces demand without supply, citizens without systems, lives without ladders.

To say this is not to absolve government. It is to indict both leadership and followership in equal measure. Governance is not a one-way transaction. A society that demands accountability must also practice responsibility. Family planning is not a foreign conspiracy. It is a survival strategy. Reproductive choice is not moral decay. It is economic realism.

The Nigerian sociologist Adebayo Olukoshi has argued that development fails where political elites and social norms reinforce each other’s worst tendencies. In Nigeria, elite corruption meets popular denial, and the outcome is demographic pressure without developmental intent.

This pressure manifests everywhere: overcrowded classrooms, collapsing cities, rising youth unemployment and a mass exodus of talent seeking dignity elsewhere. Migration is not a dream; it is an indictment. People leave not because they hate their country, but because their country has failed to imagine a future with them in it.

And still, the cycle continues.

At some point, honesty must replace sentiment. A nation cannot endlessly reproduce its way out of poverty. Children are not economic policy. Birth is not development. Hope without planning is cruelty.

True patriotism requires difficult conversations. It demands confronting cultural habits that no longer serve collective survival. It insists on shared responsibility between state and citizen. It recognizes that bringing life into the world carries obligations that extend far beyond celebration.

Nigeria does not lack people. It lacks care, coordination and courage. The courage to align birth with dignity, growth with governance and culture with reality.

Until that reckoning occurs, complaints will continue, governments will rotate and generations will be born into a system that apologizes for its failures while reproducing them.

A nation that refuses to plan its future cannot complain when the future overwhelms it.

 

When a Nation Outgrows Its Care.
By George Omagbemi Sylvester

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