Feature/OPED
How Rich Mega Churches in Nigeria Pay Pastors Poor Salaries
By Dipo Olowookere
An investigation carried out by SUNDAY PUNCH has shown that many of Nigeria’s mega rich churches pay their pastors poor wages, reports SUNDAY ABORISADE
An extensive investigation carried out by SUNDAY PUNCH has revealed that many of the country’s prosperity-preaching, super-rich mega churches pay their pastors poor wages. The newspaper’s findings revealed that a substantial majority of the pastors engaged by the churches, who are polytechnic and university graduates, earn between N25,000 and N45,000 a month.
According to our correspondent’s findings, full-time pastors, in addition to preaching and teaching during midweek services and Sunday services are also expected to perform other sundry duties that leave them with little time for other business endeavours.
Some of the churches reviewed were the Redeemed Christian Church of God, the Living Faith World Outreach, popularly known as Winners Chapel, Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (an holiness church that has of late embraced economic empowerment themes), Christ Embassy International and Lord Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries.
Nigeria is home to several Christian denominations broadly categorised as orthodox and unorthodox churches. But a clearer categorisation of churches is the one adopted by the Christian Association of Nigeria. It divides churches in Nigeria into five broad categories. According to the CAN website, the groups are the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria; Christian Council of Nigeria, comprising the Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Foursquare, Presbyterian, Eternal Sacred Order of C&S, Church of the Lord Aladura and other orthodox Churches; the Christian Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria; Organisation of African Instituted Churches; and ECWA – Evangelical Church of West Africa and Northern-Nigerian churches like COCIN, HKAN NKST, Christian Assemblies, LCCN etc.
In recent years, the Pentecostals, especially Pentecostal groups that preach faith, miracles and prosperity, have come to symbolise the face of Nigerian Christianity to the world. In addition to their huge memberships, running into tens of millions, these churches are also widely known because of their jet-set senior pastors and the businesses they run. These churches own primary and secondary schools and universities, micro-finance banks, foods and beverages companies, huge agricultural farms, sports teams, printing firms and so on.
Their senior pastors are known to be extremely wealthy, own private jets, maintain luxury homes in the country and abroad, and send their children to some of the best schools in the world.
However, the parish pastors of some of the biggest churches in the country, who spoke to our correspondent, painted a picture that showed that they live in a different world from their senior pastors.
Our correspondent noted that the clergymen spoke reluctantly for the fear of losing their jobs. Efforts made by our correspondent to ascertain the financial health of the churches were unsuccessful as the churches are known not to make their financial reports public, neither are they made available to their members.
The Redeemed Christian Church of God
The RCCG is one of the country’s biggest Pentecostal churches. It has a group of primary and secondary schools spread all over the country. The schools are Redeemer’s International School, Redeemer’s International Secondary School, Redeemer’s High School and Christ the Redeemer’s College. The church also owns Redeemer’s University, Haggai Mortgage Finance Bank, Lifeway Radio, Dove Media, Redemption Light Printing Press, hospitals, among others.
The most senior pastor of the church, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, a former university lecturer, is known to be humble and simple in taste, but he is also reputed to fly a private jet said to have been given to him by the members of the church.
At the RCCG, newly ordained full-time pastors with National Diplomas are currently being paid N25,000 a month while their counterparts with a university degree receive N35,000 as their monthly salaries. SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that in some RCCG churches with small congregations, parish pastors sometimes use personal funds every Sunday to run their local churches.
Sources in the church, who disclosed this to our correspondents in various states across the country, further explained that a full-time area pastor earns a minimum monthly salary of N40,000 while a full-time provincial pastor is entitled to a minimum monthly salary of N85, 000. According to the church’s structure, an area pastor is in charge of about five or six parishes while a provincial pastor is in charge of about 100 parishes or a state.
A pastor in Lagos, who spoke to our correspondent, said tithes (10 per cent) of their salaries were usually deducted before salaries were paid.
However, the pastor refused to be drawn into a detailed explanation of how he makes ends meet on such a salary. He said, “The job of a pastor is a sacrificial one, no doubt, but what we are paid cannot ordinarily sustain us. The money is definitely not enough to meet our needs even with our access to loans and free accommodation provided by the church.
“Our parish members are most supportive and I encourage my wife to work. Some of our wives own small-scale businesses or crèches.”
The pastors said that members of the parishes are expected to generously support the upkeep of the pastor’s families and provide “comfortable accommodation” for them. They also added that the RCCG paid half of their children’s tuition fees in schools established by the ministry.
Further investigations revealed that the RCCG is cutting the costs of running its various missions by encouraging born-again and well-trained members to lead the parishes, zones and provinces on a part-time basis.
Attempts to get the official position of the church on the welfare of its pastors failed as a member of the church’s media team, Olanike Olaomo, told our correspondent that she was not competent to speak on the issue, when contacted on phone.
She also refused to give out the phone number of the head of the team.
“If you ask for my candid opinion, I will tell you to drop your story because no one will give you the information you are requesting for,” she said.
Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries
Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries is a prayer-themed ministry led by Dr. Daniel Olukoya. It has hundreds of branches in Nigeria and beyond. The church runs school groups, comprising Mountain Top Nursery and Primary schools, Mountain Top Secondary schools, Mountain Top University, a printing press, among others.
Majority of the ministers operate on full-time basis. A source told SUNDAY PUNCH that the church operates a “central salary scale for pastors working in God’s vineyard at the church’s branch, zonal and regional levels.”
The salary scheme for the clerics ranges from N25,000 to N80,000 depending on the level of their deployment.
A pastor in a branch of the church in Abuja, who could not be named because he was not authorised to give any information on the matter, said that clerics in the church’s branches averagely earned between N20,000 and N25,000 monthly. He, however, added that pastors were also supported by “benevolent church members.”
The pastor said, “The salary is paid by the region under which the branch is with strict directive from the headquarters since the amount payable monthly is structured. But there are also few newly ordained ministers who assist pastors-in-charge at zones and regions during deliverance programmes. These set of ministers get about N15,000 monthly.”
Also, a zonal pastor with the church in Abuja, who did not want to be named, told our correspondent that the salary for his category was between N40,000 and N45,000.
It was gathered that the church, either at the level of branch, zonal or regional was expected to provide accommodation for its pastor.
The support for accommodation, it was learnt, could come from the region under which the branch operates if such a branch was unable to bear the burden alone.
Another pastor, who pleaded anonymity, said they survived through what he described as the ‘the grace of God and the support of children of God.’
He disclosed that having chosen to work for God, they look beyond material comfort and fix their gaze on the reward from above.
“There are other supports from the church in terms of education for our children. Since the church has a school, there is a provision for a certain percentage of the tuition fees to be waived for pastors’ children. I have yet started to enjoy the privilege because my children are still young. When they start going to school, I will also benefit from it,’’ he stated.
For pastors in the regional arms of the church, they get about N80,000 monthly according to a pastor in one of the church’s branches in Benin City, Edo State, who refused to be named.
When contacted, the Chairman, Media Committee, MFM, Pastor Oladele Bank-Olemoh, said though he could not specifically say the amount each of the pastors in the church gets as salary, the general overseer takes their welfare seriously.
Pastor Bank-Olemoh said, “The general overseer takes care of them very well. He caters for their accommodation, school fees of their children and gives them money personally. Those who abide by the vision of the church and support the general overseer know that he does not joke with the welfare of the ministers.
“Every minister in the MFM knows that if you are conscientious and diligent, you will be blessed. The money you take as salary is nothing but the blessing is the most important. You can earn so much and still not be able to do anything with it. That is what we call pocket with holes. The general overseer is passionate about the welfare of the pastors.’’
The Living Faith Church Worldwide
Winners Chapel, one of the foremost and most popular Pentecostal churches in Nigeria has a chain of about 30 secondary schools and 50 primary schools and two universities, Covenant University and Landmark University. Owned by Bishop David Oyedepo, who is famed for owning a private jet, the church also owns one of the country’s biggest and most sophisticated printing firms, Dominion Publishing House, Hebron Bottled Water, bottled water processing plant, a bakery, various restaurants and stores, among others.
Investigations by our correspondents in the South-West revealed that a newly-ordained pastor outside Lagos in Winners Chapel receives N35,000 as monthly salary while new pastors in Lagos earn between N45,000 and N55,000. An area pastor with some years of experience collects N85,000 per month while a resident pastor (state pastor) now collects N200,000 per month.
Some area pastors who spoke with our correspondents, strictly on condition of anonymity, explained that pastors could earn more depending on their years of experience.
One of them said, “Apart from the salaries, pastors are usually well taken care of by members of their local assemblies. Pastors-offering is encouraged and a pastor could get more than his salary as offering from just a member in a day.”
Believers LoveWorld
SUNDAY PUNCH investigations revealed that most pastors of the Believers LoveWorld, a.k.a Christ Embassy, owned by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, are engaged on part-time basis while the few ones on full-time appointments are paid like other workers in the ministry.
A part-time pastor of the church in the Ikeja area of Lagos State and another one in the Bodija area of Ibadan, in Oyo State confided in our correspondents that most of their full-time pastors are in the headquarters.
They said a newly-ordained pastor earns about N40,000 but that only the headquarters could provide further details.
When contacted, the Believers LoveWorld officials declined to make comments on the welfare of their pastors.
A representative of the church attached to a church in Lekki reprimanded our correspondent for “picking a phone number from the website” and added that it was “wrong.”
Another representative of the church, identified simply as Pastor Mercy of the Prayer and Counselling Centre at the church headquarters, said she was not authorised to speak to the media about issues relating to the church.
She also refused to give out the contact number of the spokesperson of the church because of the sensitive nature of the information requested.
Deeper Christian Life Ministry
Popularly called Deeper Life, the church was founded by Pastor William Kumuyi. Widely known for its strict conservativism, the church, in recent times, has embraced economic-empowerment and Christian prosperity themes, while not letting go of its conservatism. With millions of members and thousands of branches in Nigeria and other parts of the world, it owns Life Press Limited, Deeper Life Nursery and Primary School, Deeper Life High School, Anchor University, among others.
A top member of the church told one of our correspondents that 95 per cent of its members in Lagos are part-time workers who receive no salary.
He said, “Most of the church’s full-time workers are not in Lagos. They have jobs so they don’t have to rely on church district members. The church encourages its pastors to work, so full time pastors are a rarity. The most the part-time pastors get is N5, 000 for recharge cards monthly.”
SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that outside Lagos, the church have three categories of pastors. Part-time pastors do not earn salaries, they are said to be ‘taken care of by their local parishes’.
A long-time member of the church said, “Our pastors who are volunteer full-time pastors are not on the payroll of the church. The local church where they belong to may then decide to give them out of the offering but the tithe goes to the central (unit).”
The last category of pastors, he added, are those who are overseers and senior pastors and their salaries range from N2.5m to N6m per annum.”
The phone number of the Secretary, Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor Jerry Asemota, who is the only person authorised to speak on official issues, was switched off when our correspondent contacted him on Saturday.
Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries
Investigations by SUNDAY PUNCH revealed that there is no salary structure for pastors of the Lord Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries, founded by Pastor Lazarus Muoka.
The church runs various primary and secondary schools while it also has a few standard private hospitals.
A leader of the church, who spoke with one of our correspondents, explained that when a new pastor is ordained and ‘given a pulpit’ (put in charge of a branch), he is entitled to one-tenth of whatever income that the church generates every week.
He said, “We don’t have a structured salary system for our pastors. They are paid based on the money they generate from tithes and offerings. However, the headquarters usually give a considerable amount to their wives to set up a small business.
“It is expected that the proceeds from the wife’s business will be used to augment the family’s upkeep. Also, the church ensures that all the pastors’ biological children enjoy free education at all the Lord’s Chosen primary and secondary schools.
“The church also arranges scholarship for the pastors’ children in their various higher institutions.”
The church leader added that the pastor’s family could also benefit from the welfare offering, usually meant for the needy, based on the discretion of the committee handling the fund.
When our correspondent called the land line on the website of the church, it did not connect while top church members kept sealed lips.
CAN, PFN react
Speaking in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Saturday, the Director, Media and Public Relations of PFN, Simbo Olorunfemi, said pastors’ welfare is part of the issues that would be discussed at the group’s forthcoming biennial conference, scheduled to hold in Edo State.
“The welfare of pastors and indeed Nigerians generally concerns the PFN. This is part of the issues to be discussed at the forthcoming conference. The PFN will make recommendations and suggestions that would enhance the welfare of pastors to fulfill their duties effectively,” he told SUNDAY PUNCH.
The General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Musa Asake, however told SUNDAY PUNCH that how much mega churches paid their pastors as salaries was not the business of the association.
“The Christian Association of Nigeria does not dabble into how much churches pay their pastors. It is not the mandate of the association to do so. As an association, CAN doesn’t discuss issues like that; we do not discuss doctrines. That is left for individual churches to decide. If there are issues about how much pastors earn as salaries in their churches I think the headquarters of the churches should be able to respond to that. It is not the business of CAN to look into how much churches pay their pastors,” Asake told one of our correspondents.
http://punchng.com/revealed-nigerias-rich-mega-churches-pay-pastors-poor-salaries/
By Marc Thiriet
Africa’s ability to leapfrog traditional power systems and adopt renewables on a massive scale is not a fantasy. In-depth studies from Wärtsilä have demonstrated that with the adequate support of flexible power technologies, ambitious renewable energy objectives in Africa are not only achievable, but they also represent the soundest and cheapest strategy for the successful electrification of the continent.
A new power generation paradigm perfectly suited for Africa
There has been much discussion about Africa’s ability to ‘leapfrog’ the way power systems have been built in the western world. For over a century, traditional power systems have been based on centralised power generation, with a limited number of large thermal power plants providing baseload electricity through a massive transmission network. This way of generating power is, however, coming to an end: the climate emergency is calling for a 180-degree paradigm shift in which renewables replace thermal power plants as the baseload source of energy.
This new power generation paradigm is, in many ways, a perfect fit for Africa. The continent enjoys some of the highest wind and solar energy resources on the planet, which means that the renewable energy plants built here boast some of the best productivity rates in the world. Almost anywhere in Africa, renewables are the cheapest power generation option available today by a significant margin.
Although relatively ambitious renewable energy targets have been set by most governments across the continent, there is still widespread scepticism that renewable energy, which is intermittent by nature, can provide a reliable source of baseload power. This scepticism is unjustified. With the appropriate deployment of grid balancing technologies like gas engine power plants or energy storage, huge amounts of renewable energy can be built into the system while at the same time ensuring a stable and reliable network. Energy experts at Wärtsilä, who have built 76 GW of power plant capacity in 180 countries around the world, certainly know a thing or two about that.
Building reliable power systems
Yes, renewables are intermittent, but it’s a challenge that we have long known how to solve, providing the need for flexible power capacity is not underestimated.
As intermittent renewable energy becomes the new baseload, the system will have to cope with a large amount of variable power that can disrupt the grid. Flexible power must therefore be available to ramp up production at the same rate that wind or solar production fluctuates but also to match the fluctuating energy demand within the day. System imbalances can be, at times, huge, but the system will stay safe as long as renewable energy deployment is matched with corresponding levels of flexible power capacity.
Flexible engine power plants are the only technology designed to work hand-in-hand with renewables, as they can efficiently cope with multiple daily starts and stops. They also offer the significant advantage of being able to run on different fuels, from natural gas and heavy fuel oil today to locally produced hydrogen and biofuels tomorrow, as they become competitive and broadly available. Thanks to this muti-fuel capability, not only do engine power plants provide a great hedge against fuel supply risk, but they are also the ultimate “future-proof” technology for energy leapfrogging, as the gas engines can simply be converted to run on green fuels like hydrogen to reach 100% renewables. Engine power plants offer a solid, long-term foundation on which African countries can build modern and resilient clean power systems.
Energy leapfrogging requires a tailormade approach
Delivering on energy leapfrogging is going to be a complex, multi-decade process. Each country in Africa features its own unique mix of natural resources, geographical opportunities and constraints, and population density, alongside a myriad of other parameters. Each country will therefore require its own tailormade and optimal power system expansion plan to accomplish its leapfrogging.
What would such a plan look like in practice? Let’s take Nigeria as an example. Using advanced energy system modelling techniques, Wärtsilä’s analysts have designed a detailed roadmap showing how Nigeria could proceed to build a 100% renewable energy power system and meet its 2060 net-zero targets.
According to our models, by 2060, Nigeria’s power capacity should consist of 1,200 GW of renewable energy and require a total of 283 GW of energy storage and 34 GW of flexible engine power plants for grid balancing purposes. On the other hand, inflexible sources of power like coal, oil or gas turbine power plants have now become the exception rather than the norm.
For this plan to succeed, Nigeria’s domestic gas must still play a crucial transition role: It will be mobilised as an inexpensive bridging fuel for engine power plants in support of intermittent renewable energy generation until these plants can be converted to run purely on green hydrogen in the early 2040s.
This is the soundest power system from both an environmental and economic standpoint. Our research indeed shows that investing in renewable energy and flexibility from gas engines and energy storage is the most cost-effective way for Nigeria to reduce energy costs, increase energy access and improve grid reliability. For the plan to succeed, however, the country will have to greatly improve its power transmission infrastructure, develop a strong and dependable policy framework, and attract significant investment.
The global shift to renewable energy provides Nigeria and Africa, as a whole, with a unique opportunity to leapfrog the carbon-based power systems that have been the norm in the West. Delivering this opportunity would represent a giant step forward in the country’s development. But an adequate and carefully planned deployment of flexible power technologies to balance the intermittency of renewables is the sine qua non-condition for energy leapfrogging to succeed in Nigeria, as anywhere else on the continent.
Marc Thiriet is the Director for Africa at Wärtsilä Energy
By Prince Charles Dickson PhD
“Misunderstanding the understanding” can refer to a situation where someone fails to comprehend or interpret a concept, idea, or situation correctly, despite believing that they have understood it. This can occur due to various reasons such as cognitive biases, lack of knowledge or experience, miscommunication, cultural differences, or preconceived notions.
For example, imagine a person from one culture trying to understand a complex concept or idea from another culture. Even if they have the best intentions and have studied the concept extensively, they may still misunderstand it due to differences in language, values, or beliefs. This can lead to misinterpretations and miscommunications that can create confusion and misunderstanding.
Another example could be in a professional setting where a manager provides instructions to an employee, but the employee may not fully understand the instructions due to different interpretations or assumptions. The employee may then carry out the task incorrectly, leading to errors and inefficiencies.
In order to avoid “misunderstanding the understanding,” it is important to maintain open communication, clarify concepts and ideas, and be aware of potential biases or assumptions that may affect the interpretation of information. Additionally, seeking feedback and asking questions can help ensure that everyone is on the same page and that there is a shared understanding of the information at hand.
We cannot do the last paragraph above because elsewhere the police say freeze when they want to arrest you, but in Nigeria, we say ‘hold it’. The people that say hold it is the same people that, by the time you are reading this, would have settled whether Vivor of Lagos is Igbo or Yoruba. They are the same group of people that will remind you that Murtala Muhammed was from Edo or one-time Vice President Sambo is from Agenebode.
If you understand the misunderstanding, one time, an Eboni man was told that he could not be governor in Enugu, the same way Bianca Ojukwu was once told by the family of Ojukwu she could not be a senator in Anambra state.
We are a people that are no different from our politicians, who are dealers rather than leaders, so it is difficult to understand the difference because we are consciously misunderstanding, no Minister’s kid is looking for a job, and no governor’s brother is jobless. No local government chairman has an issue with getting his sister a job.
The political class don’t know that there’s no electricity, because Rimi road, Adeoye crescent, and Mbakwe close all have houses powered by big generators.
While we battle our misunderstanding, the fact is that we don’t understand the pain of a family whose substantial monthly income goes to purchasing cooking oil (kerosene) or gas.
We believe that the earth is chasing us, so where did we put our feet while running? I was once told that the fowl on a journey inside the basket does not know where it will end.
You need to understand the misunderstanding that the Nigerian dream is that you steal much and even more because if you are caught, you need money to settle all the steps of the staircase, police, lawyers, and more. At the court, you seek a restraining order and restrain anybody from arresting or investigating you. You pay a handful to protest that you’re being persecuted because of your faith or creed…do you understand, or are you being misunderstood?
Stealing government money is no big deal; it’s a dream, after all, we have erroneously insisted it is everybody’s money. If you do not want to steal, your people will mock you, in fact, as you aspire, the past records of looting by your predecessor are packaged in phrases such as ‘see the house he built for his mother’, ‘how he buried his father’, and ‘he managed to build us a small clinic too’, ‘it is our turn’, ‘you must put our people in position’, and these are misunderstandings that must be understood.
The Nigerian dream is to have your cough treated in Germany, your kids’ school in heaven knows where, and get all sorts of awards and titles, from the Baba Adini of Adiniland to an honorary degree from a one-storey building college in Maputo, that is after being knighted by one of the numerous churches, countless lesser and higher hajj, and it is all ‘you either understand or you misunderstand’.
The United Kingdom has a Hindu prime minister of Indian descent and a Muslim mayor of London of Pakistani descent. Jeremy Hunt, who is currently Chancellor of the Exchequer, when was foreign secretary, referred to his Chinese wife as Japanese during a visit to Beijing to discuss post-Brexit trade deals between the UK and China. We do not understand that true diversity is about disrupting the status quo, not enforcing it with zeal. In Nigeria, it is a different story.
How do we understand the misunderstanding in Lagos, the Igbo and Yoruba drama, as in the real deal is our dichotomy is not a subject within the shores of this nation that one talks about without understanding; it evokes a lot of passion from the heated arguments which it generates, everyone holding dear to their values, and idiosyncrasies. A lot has been written on old perspectives, likewise, new viewpoints; after the elections, we go back into the cocoon, and the differences remain and are not tackled.
In our misunderstanding, we think of easterners, westerners, northerners, and middle belters, all depending on the turn of events. In our sensationalism, we have, in every sense, approached most problems sectionally, thereby creating all kinds of unnecessary petty-cultural-ethnic-religious-paranoia and bourgeois mentality in dealing with our national issues.
There is an ideology of hatred, one that props up again and again, Lagos in the West, Anambra in the East, North vs South, Muslims vs Christians. This is a factor that reactionary elements within the system use in battling the progressives. The misunderstanding in the understanding, which really borrows a lot from bourgeois theories, which essentially is directed at confusing our intellect, like we try to argue within the parameters of “anti-class theory”, “theory of development”, “take off theory”,, “theory of cooperation”, “theory of external push”, “end of ideology theory”, “convergence theory”, “the theory of the periphery in the periphery”.
Wonderful sociological concepts that do very little to help us shift in the way of progress because only a few theories work for us…” the theory of corruption”, “the theory of bad governance”, “chop I chop theory”, and “killing for god theory”, “WIKE”, “Obi, and Elu Pee theory”, “Balablu theory” and now the “BVAS theory”. Do you understand, or you misunderstood me?
Interestingly and constructively, when we fulfil the Nigerian dream-like stealing, we have no religion, no tribe, and no fights; all is good so long it ends well, we only fight when one attempts to out steal the other. It is the misunderstanding that we do not understand, and we never will until the ordinary Nigerian becomes the focal point, it will almost never work. The dream for a better, strong and virile nation lies in our hands. Sadly, we refuse to understand it and choose to misunderstand the difference, we continue in our wild goose chase till when—only time will tell.
By Nneka Okumazie
It is often puzzling to watch two weak people engage in a fight of mostly rare necessity. There are often reasons. Different sides deploy different tools, but they contend over what should possibly be avoided. They most certainly become weaker subsequently.
For some, the objective is that when something else is added, they become stronger. However, conquest alone does not guarantee a change in strength, so weakness remains, even when they don’t think so.
In Africa, there have been intertribal conflicts for decades across different locations, but there is hardly any conflict between the peoples of Africa that is about the future. There is always something immediate or some form of possession as the purpose, but it is never about the future.
Tribe, race or ethnicity is not what is important for a people that desire true progress. The origin may be a useful community but that origin, religion or whatever else weak people take pride in as the first thing leaves them below progress, at a time of excellent progress from other places around the world.
For all the resources that countries in Africa list, what is absolutely irreplaceable or which ones do the existence of the world depend on, that are excluded from there? How did they also find out that these are resources, or have they always been needed?
There are tribes, places and resources in Africa that are not as exciting as some new technology in the world, because of the promise, yet the people fight and lengthen hate.
The governments in Africa are powerful because the people are mostly beneath their government. Many structures of power in Africa in modern times are mostly from other places. The people within have been unable to drive alternative structures that would be powerful enough to earn the respect or boundaries of government.
Governments in Africa are as powerful as their people are weak. Protest, election, advocacy, politics, tribe, religion, complaint, press, education, business, law, criticism, and whatever else are unable to match the crazy behaviour of their governments. There are tools that governments in Africa cannot live without at present that did not come from Africa. African governments are not more powerful than those external tools, yet their people seek change from weakness.
There are tribes in Africa in power more than others, but it is of no use to the development of their people. There are tribes that are considerably wealthier than others but worthless to their people. There are others with good locations and education but are useless to their people.
The interest of someone in some place trying to have a nice time can hardly be advanced as a group. The determination to make the future different from the past does not exist in the people. The shame they should have as a people for where they are, to organize with superior methods to emerge into an advantage is not there. Tribes in Africa want to stay weak, so their fights are never about the future.
[Judges 20:16, Among all these people, there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at a hair breadth, and not miss.]
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