Former Executive Secretary of Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission, Rev. Tor Uja has advised government at all levels to support faith-based organizations and invest in leadership to build a virile nation.
Uja gave the advice on Saturday night during the merit award presented to him by Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International, Benue West Zone C in Makurdi, Benue state.
He said that governments should focus on things that build the people which he identified to include; mental, spiritual and education.
According to him, “There is a greater need to build knowledge and character in leadership than we focus on mere physical things; salaries, inflation and others, they are important in life but the indices that build the people are first of all, mental and second, spiritual and third, the leadership driven.
“We need to build more leadership in our people, we need to increase the level of their spiritual awareness and lifestyle and we need to also increase our educational investments right from the very elementary level where people are small to the point where we think they’re big.
“People who are not as knowledgeable as they are and while the faith-based institutions; the church, the ministries and the different groups are doing it out of voluntary and service, it is a mandatory thing for government to do.
He added, “Government is duty-bound to support this agencies. Whatever the government is doing they claim they do it for public institutions, for government owned public institutions, this is myopic.
“This is wrong this is to say that many people in our land if not for faith-based organisations, Christians schools, hospitals will not be anywhere. So it is our duty to return that investment, support the churches to build the land.
The former NCPC boss also enjoined federal government and Benue state government in particular to give attention to working and cooperating with and also helping to fund the faith organisations in their drive towards education and agriculture.
