society
Prisoners of the Pulpit: How Congregational Ignorance Fuels Decay
Prisoners of the Pulpit: How Congregational Ignorance Fuels Decay.
By George Omagbemi Sylvester | Published by saharaweeklyng.com
“Pastors exploit, but it is the blind loyalty of followers that keeps the chains of poverty locked.”
A Nation Enslaved by Ignorance.
It was a sweltering Sunday afternoon in Lagos. Outside the massive gates of a popular Pentecostal church, a shoeless young man selling sachet water argued passionately. The reporter had dared to question why his pastor needed a private jet while thousands of congregants could not afford three meals a day.
The young man, sweating under the sun, defended his “Daddy in the Lord” without hesitation:
“Leave my pastor alone! If he needs ten jets, let him buy them. He is doing God’s work.”
When asked if he himself had ever entered an airplane, the boy laughed bitterly. “No, but one day my seed will speak for me.”
That is Nigeria’s tragedy in one scene. A hungry man, who cannot afford transport beyond okada, defends the extravagance of a pastor who dines with politicians and owns fleets of cars. This is not faith, it is weaponized ignorance and it is destroying the nation more than bullets or bombs. “The tragedy of Nigeria is that the poor defend the rich who exploit them in the name of God.”
The Cult of Ignorance.
Nigeria’s greatest enemy today is not just the greed of pastors or the corruption of politicians; it is the ignorance of millions of followers who cheer while they are exploited. Congregants have been conditioned to see their poverty as proof of spiritual warfare and their pastor’s wealth as proof of divine favor.
As the scholar Paul Gifford put it, the prosperity gospel is “a theology of irresponsibility,” shifting blame for poverty onto demons and invisible forces, while exonerating pastors and politicians. Ruth Marshall, in her landmark study of Nigerian Pentecostalism, observed that followers often suspend critical thinking, treating total obedience to pastors as obedience to God.
This is why congregants defend jets while they cannot afford bicycles, why they fund multi-billion naira cathedrals while their children study under leaking roofs, why they clap when politicians are endorsed from the pulpit. Ignorance, sanctified in the name of faith, has become our greatest national chain.
Facts We Cannot Ignore.
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) reported that 767 factories shut down in 2023 alone, with 335 more in distress. These were not just buildings, they were livelihoods. Yet, instead of saving industries, many of these abandoned factories were bought and converted into churches and prayer camps.
SaharaWeeklyNG.com have documented this disturbing trend. Where once machines roared and jobs were created, now microphones wail and offerings are collected. It is a cruel irony: Nigerians pray in the very spaces where they should be working.
The Obscene Contrast.
In 2015, a prominent Nigerian pastor justified his private jet by declaring that “commercial flights are filled with demons.” Another once said that a pastor without a jet is “not serious with God’s work.” Congregants roared in applause.
Meanwhile, the same congregations struggle to pay hospital bills, tuition fees and rent. Hunger stalks the pews, while luxury fuels the pulpit. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu once warned: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” Nigerians are not neutral, they actively cheer their own oppressors.
IGNORANCE HERE IS NOT INNOCENCE. IT IS COMPLICITY.
The Political Dimension.
Pastors in Nigeria have long enjoyed cozy relationships with politicians, but it is the congregations who allow it. Instead of demanding accountability, they obey blindly when told: “Vote for this man; he is God’s chosen.”
This political obedience has devastating consequences. It delivers corrupt leaders to power through the pulpit pipeline. It makes democracy hostage to religion. It transforms the church from a house of prayer into an electoral machine.
Chinua Achebe’s words echo with chilling accuracy: “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership.” But leadership is not only in Aso Rock; it is also in the pulpits. And behind every failed pulpit stands a congregation too ignorant to resist.
When Ignorance Becomes Idolatry.
Congregational ignorance has crossed into idolatry. Many followers no longer worship God, they worship their pastors. They defend their leaders’ excesses as though their salvation depends on it. They treat pastors as monarchs, untouchable and unquestionable.
Comedians capture this tragic reality best. I Go Dye once joked: “Na only for Nigeria you go see poor man dey shout ‘Papa ride on’ when pastor dey talk about private jet. But na that same man never chop since morning.” Gordons added: “If miracle dey work the way dem talk, why pastors no lay hand on Nigeria’s economy make e rise?”
Behind the laughter lies bitter truth: a nation cannot prosper when its citizens celebrate exploitation.
The Cost of Ignorance.
The economic cost is staggering. When billions of naira are poured into offering baskets instead of investments, industries die. When factories become prayer camps, unemployment rises. When congregations treat pastors as gods, politicians find in them willing allies.
The moral cost is worse. We are raising a generation that values PROPHECY over PRODUCTIVITY, MIRACLES over MANUFACTURING, SUPERSTITION over SCIENCE. A generation that believes poverty is caused by demons instead of failed policies.
A Five-Point Wake-Up Call to Congregations.
Ask Questions. Faith is not stupidity. Any pastor who discourages critical thinking is an enemy of progress.
Stop Funding Vanity. Before you contribute to your pastor’s new jet, ask: How many jobs has he created with the billions already collected?
Invest in Education and Skills. Don’t just sow financial seeds; sow into your children’s future.
Separate Faith from Politics. Your vote belongs to your conscience not your pastor.
Return to the Gospel of Work. Scripture says: “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” Work not wishful thinking, builds nations.
Ignorance is a Choice.
It is time to stop pretending. Nigerians are not only victims of greedy pastors and corrupt politicians. Nigerians are also victims of their own ignorance. They willingly defend those who exploit them. They shout “ride on, Daddy!” even when Daddy rides on their backs.
As the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti sang: “Suffering and smiling.” That is the Nigerian congregation today; smiling as they suffer, clapping as they are robbed, singing as they are enslaved.
Final Word.
Nigeria does not lack PRAYERS; it lacks PRODUCTION. It does not lack PROPHETS; it lacks PATRIOTS. Until the congregation wakes up, pastors will keep flying jets, politicians will keep looting and factories will keep closing.
The ignorance of the congregation is the real altar where Nigeria’s future is being sacrificed. Until the pews open their eyes, the pulpits will keep feeding on their blindness.
*Nigeria is not dying because pastors are greedy; it is dying because congregations are blind.”
society
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.
society
GENERAL BULAMA BIU MOURNS BOKO HARAM VICTIMS, CALLS FOR UNITY AND RENEWED EFFORTS FOR PEACE
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.
society
When a Nation Outgrows Its Care
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.
-
celebrity radar - gossips6 months agoWhy Babangida’s Hilltop Home Became Nigeria’s Political “Mecca”
-
society5 months agoPower is a Loan, Not a Possession: The Sacred Duty of Planting People
-
Business6 months agoBatsumi Travel CEO Lisa Sebogodi Wins Prestigious Africa Travel 100 Women Award
-
news6 months agoTHE APPOINTMENT OF WASIU AYINDE BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AS AN AMBASSADOR SOUNDS EMBARRASSING











