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Nigeria is one of the most religious nations on earth. When you are looking for a country that believes so much in the efficacy of prayer with little or no action, you can think of Nigeria. Nigerians attribute virtually anything good or bad that happens within its borders to either lack of not praying, or not praying enough. So, when politicians are not performing, Nigerians would resort into praying so that they can perform, when there is no power supply, Nigerians would pray so that electrical light would be supplied by those responsible.
What about bad roads that causes accidents, claiming lives almost on regular basis; Nigerians would rather go to church or mosque to pray so that government can remember to fix the roads, instead of holding their leaders accountable. Security is a problem, healthcare is in shambles, educational system is in comatose, politicians are still in the business of stealing public funds, but Nigerians are busy praying. This is the dilemma that the country is in. Politicians understand this, and they play the religion card on the people every now and then.
Whenever something terrible happens, like say a terror attack on innocent people or herdsmen killing hundreds of people over night, Nigerian politicians would write statements on twitter and Facebook condemning the attack, and then urging the people to “continue to pray for the nation.” This has been the trend, pray for the nation, and then the incident would repeat itself in no distant time again, and then they come again, “pray for the nation.” Instead of them rising to the task and taking the necessary steps to prevent such occurrences, they would not.
If you are looking for the worst crop of politicians anywhere in the world, look no further; just come to Nigeria, the country have them in droves here!
But, would prayer alone resolve Nigeria’s numerous problems? If prayer alone is the answer, then majority of Nigeria’s woes would have come to an end. Nigeria should have been the Eldorado of the world, if prayer alone works wonders. I do not doubt the efficacy of prayer, neither am I ridiculing it. I am a believer, and I pray a lot as well.
But something usually follows prayers; and that thing is action. God is not a magician, and He would not come down to solve Nigeria’s numerous problems. God would not fix our educational sector for us, He would not come down and fix our bad roads, build us functional healthcare system or take over the management of the various electricity distribution companies daily plunging Nigerians into darkness.
The solution to Nigeria’s problems is people getting to work, most especially, our leaders; doing what they ought/has been elected to do. Even the Holy Bible makes it clear that prayers without works, is dead! Faith in prayers alone without a corresponding actions, will amount to a shear waste of time (James 2:14-17). There is a thick line between prayer and work. But when prayer is backed up by actions, then some tremendous progress would be made. This is a word for Nigerians and Nigerian politicians as well. It is time to do the needful, and praying less.
Thank you!