THE PLACE FOR PRAYER

In religious circles, prayer is a fundamental instrument employed to establish communication between man and the Supreme Being. It's importance stems from the belief that nothing can be achieved in the natural state without the blessing from the spiritual realm and, due to seemingly limitations of our earthly abilities, we tend to beseech the Power(s) in the heavens to achieve anything beyond our earthly abilities. As a result of this, any follower of any religion believes strongly that 'Prayer is the MASTER KEY' in unlocking absolutely anything that seems insurmountable in fulfilling any ambition set. 

In Christianity, (my religion), it is said that "Prayer is the Christian's weapon" and it is only through prayers that we can overcome any obstacles that come our way. This i have very much adhered to from childhood and still  adhere to today. Having been brought up in a conservative Christian home, I was taught to always go to the Lord in prayer concerning anything I want to embark upon. "There is nothing prayers cannot solve" my mother always say. However, I have often wondered if indeed, prayer was needed in ALL things. For instance, to what purpose is praying to pass an exam when you have either studied well or not studied properly?  This particular question always did reverberate in my mind whenever I was to sit for an examination during my university days. In recent years, and in particular, since the inception of my deep interest in the politics of governance in various coutries of the world and especially Nigeria, I have found myself channelling that same question to a different field. "To what purpose is praying to achieve effective governance when you either have leaders whose priority is their self interests or have leaders whose priority is public interest? In other words, WHAT IS THE RELEVANCE OF PRAYER IN ACHIEVING EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE? 

Nigeria is known worldwide as one of the most religious countries in the world. With a population of more than a hundred million, it will surprise most if any figure of more than 20% indicates those who are not believers of any religion in the country. Hardly any household in Nigeria does not say a word or two of prayers in a given day and interestingly, hardly a day goes by without the prayer,  "God, please solve our problems in Nigeria",not uttered. 

Now, every Nigerian, young or old, knows the 'cancer' eating deep into the Nigerian system. 

CORRUPTION has crippled EVERY sector of our economy so much that, provision of basic amenities is NON-EXISTENT. This is our problem: the problem of Nigeria. The problem every household prays about for solution. However, I often wonder, how do we pray for this problem to be solved? How do you pray for your land to be rid of corruption? How exactly are we expecting God to solve that problem for us? How do you pray for someone to DO THE RIGHT THING when the person already knows the 'right' and the 'wrong? Has it ever crossed our mind that our prayers are misplaced? Has it ever crossed our mind that we are possibly mocking God or that our continuous line of prayer is tantamount to tempting God? Have we stopped to SIT BACK and THINK maybe God ALREADY ANSWERED our prayers many years ago (even before we were amalgamated) and possibly, WE ARE THE SOLUTION?

The tenet of good governance is TRANSPARENCY. Transparency gives room for ACCOUNTABILITY and this leads to EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE. That being said, wherein comes PRAYER in that? Many have said, -and I have too on many occasions-, that the reason for our approach,(praying),concerning all our problems, is borne out of the fact that we feel helpless and as a result, we turn to God to come and intervene. We have spiritualised our physical problems simply because our leaders have enslaved us. They have so enslaved us to the point that we have also been mentally enslaved in believing that only God can make Nigeria better while they capitalise on this by siphoning our collective wealth for their own benefits. 

Am I insinuating God does not have power to do ALL things? Absolutely not!!! Rather, what I stand firmly on is that we have being made lazy and lackadaisical in that which we ought to do to bring about change, simply PRAYING AND WAITING!!!

Does it mean that we shouldn't pray at all?

 NO!...

 ...For it is even said, "the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much".

But the Holy Bible also says " faith without works is dead."

I have watched keenly, the arguments between my two very dear friends concerning the place for prayers in our current problems in Nigeria . While one believes praying isn't the solution, the other strongly believes praying and acting is the solution. 

Mena, who believes prayers isn't the lasting solution to our problems, is of the opinion that, if by prayers all is solved, then we ought to be the best or at the very least, one of the best countries in the world, considering the numerous times and how long we have been engaging in 'Prayer sessions' for our country. She backs her opinion with the fact that, most (if not all) the advanced countries of the world today are not as religious a country as we are, yet their system works perfectly or near perfectly. Therefore, how do we then claim prayers is what we need? You can't help but align with this line of argument especially going by the wise saying that, "you can't keep doing the same thing everytime yet expecting different result". 

Cece, on the other hand, disagrees totally with that, strongly believing that the solution to the country's problems lies in a bit of both. She believes we need to definitely stand up to ACT and as well, Pray. In fact, she has a new guiding principle concerning Nigeria... "Act more than you have ever done before and pray more than you have ever done before". 

Irrespective of their differences in opinions, the common thing they share is deep affinity and genuine desire for a better Nigeria. 

However, whilst both have very valid lines of argument and having intently listened to both them, in addition, having made my own observations about trends in Nigeria, I am of the opinion that, prayer is certainly not THE solution to Nigeria's problems.  Nonetheless, prayers CAN be rendered to seek God's favour in crowning our EFFORTS,- in ensuring effective governance is acheived-, with success. This prayer is totally different from praying to God to help rid our country of bad governance caused by corruption, etc.

 We are supposed to stand up and demand for change through various means possible (and,not necessarily through violence). Nigerians need a SHIFT/CHANGE OF MINDSET. This is not done through 'prayerful deliverance' rather, through ENLIGHTENMENT. 

This point is perfectly explained through the impact of social media today. Through that platform, many nationals of this coutry have been enlightened and 'broken free' from the bondage of mental enslavement...thinking Nigeria is just what it is. Many have been made to realise that we don't have to accept mediocrity. We have been made to know that the country is for ALL of US  and not for a select few who have been enriching themselves with our country's resources. We have been made to know that, we can actually DEMAND FOR CHANGE rather than simply asking God for change. We now know that the Government is answerable to us and not the other way round. 

These aren't what prayers do. God has already given unto us, the ability to reason; to be mentally alert. It is up to US to make use of it and to those who have, it is their duty to enlighten the rest of us of that possibility so that collectively, we ACT and not just SUBMIT or ACCEPT. This is our duty to Nigeria and to the children to come after us. We must all contribute our quota. 

Having lived in the United Kingdom for about a decade before returning home, not once did I hear of a 'national day of prayer' because of the problems of the land. Instead, the government of the day gets stuck in to work and ensure ALL THAT IS RIGHT is done. The leaders were always scrutinised by the general public. Never did I have to pray for electricity supply nor did I have to pray for provision of water. Security of life and properties was (and still is) ensured and when there are glitches, the government doesn't say "please pray", rather they get into an overdrive to ensure such glitches are fixed and never to reoccur. That is EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE. They made themselves accountable by ensuring transparency and even at that, the public still demands more. In our case here, we pray to have all these amenities. We are not demanding of our government instead, demanding of God. We should ACT first. We should hold our leaders to higher standards.  We should raise our voices through various means, in demanding for a change from our modus operandi.  

Then, the PLACE FOR PRAYERS is to now ask God to kindly crown these efforts with success; to give us the strength to continue contributing without being weary so that our tomorrow can be better than today for sake of our future generations to come. 

God bless us all.

Papi