The presiding bishop, The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), Mike Okonkwo, says  governments alone cannot tackle security challenges in Nigeria, urging support from churches.

Mr Okonkwo stated  this on Thursday at the ongoing  Giant Killers Conference 2025, organised by Rev. Yomi Kasali, Founder of the Foundation of Truth Assembly (FOTA) in Lagos.

The church is also using the conference to mark its 20th anniversary.

Mr Okonkwo spoke alongside other prominent clerics,  including Apostle Anselm Madubuko and Kasali, who also tasked Nigerian churches on partnering with governments to fight insecurity and economic challenges of the country. 

The bishop said that  though it is the duty of the government to protect the people, churches must partner with government to arrest the situation.

On the challenges in Nigeria, Mr Okonkwo said that at every level of  governance, those who could not perform  should step down from the position and allow more capable hands to take over.

“There is no need of buying the position where you are not performing.”

Mr Okonkwo said government alone cannot handle the challenges of insecurity,  which had become a national concern.

He said that though security is the responsibility of the government, Nigerians and churches must join hands to arrest the situation.

He said: “The only way the church can assist  is to partner with the government and speak up where there is insecurity and not try to hide behind the curtains.

“Churches must speak up and be forthright, speak to powers that be, so that the government will also begin to take on their responsibility.

“As a matter of fact, it’s the government’s responsibility to provide security for  citizens. And so,  they need to know that  citizens are very concerned that they are not carrying out their responsibility.”

The bishop blamed churches for the inability to rightly impact on citizens through their sermons.

“The church is a powerful voice and the  voice of God here on earth. And as a result, when we preach Christ, who transforms life to our congregation, which more or less is the grassroots, they occupy the different offices in different places in society.

“And when their lives are transformed the way it ought to be, automatically, wherever they find themselves, they’re going to also dispense that life. And it will affect society.

“So obviously, like I’ve said in different forums, many people who are doing the wrong thing in the public sector and in society are answering James, John, Mary, Martha, they go to church.

“So the question is why are you then not doing what is right in the society? So that means that the message has not really gone down the way it ought to,” he said.

According to the bishop, there should be emphasis through the church back to the basics that our people must understand that church does not end in the four walls of the building.

On his part, the founder of Revival Assembly Ministries International, Mr Madubuko, said the church needs  to pray for leaders to wake up to their responsibilities.

He said: The church is supposed to be the strongest because of Jesus but because we have gone the other way. Just like Bishop  Okonkwo said, our responsibility is to grow in the knowledge of Jesus.

“And it is this knowledge that builds us up. So when the church begins to grow in this knowledge, then the church will have its mojo back.”

On insecurity, Mr Madubuko said  prayers are needed for God’s  intervention.

“There’s nothing one can do about it. Just pray that God will wake up the people on duty and let everybody be on his duty post.”

Mr Kasali said the government could  do much more to address the insecurity in the country.

He charged the church to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

“The same things we’ve said over time, that the church is the  salt of the earth and the light of the world, that we should be able to impact our nation, our communities.

“Right now we have the biggest churches in town, the biggest pastors, the biggest ministries but our impact is not as much held in our society.

“It’s important for us to try as much as possible to let our impact be felt beyond buildings and beyond big names. And that’s what Bishop said, and I truly concur with that thought and that opinion. That’s ours as well.

“As giant killers, we believe that there are always problems in every nation, and we should just go in there boldly.”

According to Kasali,  we should hope and believe  that we are David, and the Goliaths in this nation are facing us. We can bring down Goliath.

“Faith, integrity, honesty, faith in God’s word, faith in everything that we believe and we should have faith in this nation. Have faith in Nigeria again. Whatever is confronting us as a nation, we can bring them down with a stone and a slingshot.

“The Church is a moral institution, and we hope that the Church and its leaders and its members can go out there and become salt, not just sugar. That’s how we can impact and make a positive impact in this nation. Pretty much, that’s how we can do it.

“Government can do much more. They are trying, they are making the effort but I know they can do much more. And they are doing their best, and they are doing their bit but I believe they can do much more.”

Also speaking, Mr Kasali’s wife, Funke Kasali, said part of the programme is to seek God’s face and intervention in the affairs of Nigeria.

She said: “As a wife and a mother, the killing of innocent Nigerians breaks my heart.

“The victims of kidnapping, murder, rituals, banditry and robbery could have been anyone.

“It is sickening and sad and we are tired of it.

 We need total overhaul of the system, parents must play a role in their children’s upbringing and instilling values,  while schools and churches should help the children to retain those values.”

Other pastors expected to speak at the conference are Felix Omobude, Ayo Oritsejafor, Funmi Boulah Johnson, Bidemi Mark-Mordi and Tolu Odukoya.

The programme, which kicked off formally on Wednesday night at the church auditorium in Surulere, is expected to end with a Thanksgiving on Sunday. 

(NAN)