At Church with the President, God and Goodluck!

Two days after Independence Day I attended a Church Service to celebrate Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee.  My main motivation for going was actually to see the inside of the National Christian Centre and despite hearing that the President was going to attend the service, I didn’t really expect that he would show up.

Inside the church

However when I arrived all the nearby roads were blocked, and there were Police everywhere, and getting into the building was a little like getting on a plane, only I didn’t have to remove my shoes and I wasn’t wearing a belt!  Inside the church was rather empty to start with, so I took my seat beside Christian, a fellow Oyibo (white person) that I met outside, and waited to see what would happen.  Being the only two white people present, we were asked if we were diplomats, I said no, but Christian said yes, and much to my embarrassment we were taken almost to the front row.  However once things got going I was rather pleased with my front row seat and view of the President, not so pleased with all the cameras in my face, several witnesses have told me they saw me on TV!

Onyeka Onwneu singing Happy Birthday Nigeria 

Onyeka Onwenu singing Happy Birthday Nigeria

The service was amazing, very Nigerian of course, lots of singing and dancing and wonderful clothes, but also a real sense of hope.  It was based on Jubilee, in the biblical sense, with readings from Leviticus 25, Joel 2, and Isaiah 61.  The Jubilee year, as described in the Bible, is about giving land back to its original owners.  When the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they were each given their share of land.  As trade began the value of the land was to depend on the number of years to the next Jubilee, (every 50 years).  So Jubilee is about re distributing things such that every thing is fare again, as opposed to capitalist economics where the rich keep getting richer at the expense of the poor.  (I imagine Nigeria is one of the richest poorest countries in the world).  The other readings were about reclaiming the stolen years, and preaching good news to the poor, healing the sick and so on.

Year of Jubilee

So in the context of a country that has had a rather troubled first 50 years and is due to have an election in its 51^st year, you can imagine all of the above took on a rather profound meaning.  This was added to by the “Sounding of the Shofar”, the Shofar is a trumpet, usually made from a Ram’s Horn, only blown by a learned man, for religious purposes such as prayer and announcing the Jubilee.

Sounding the Shofar

So that was the God bit, now for Goodluck, he read the second reading, and addressed the Congregation, each time standing at a special lectern.  Unfortunately I can’t remember what he said but a Nigerian sitting next to me said that he is good because he is open to change, and this certainly came across in his speech.

Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Federal Republic of Nigeria

So if you are someone who prays please pray for Nigeria, that the elections are free and fair, and maybe more importantly peaceful, and that the next 50 years are better for the Nigerian people than the last. 

Outside the church

Nigeria at 50

Last Friday, 1st October was Independence Day, 50 years of independence from the British, celebrations were to be held at the Eagle Square, which is rather a small venue, so we aimed to get there by 08:30, it was due to start at 10. Unfortunately as often occurs when one group of people aims to meet another group of people it was more like 09:30 and there was no way we could get into the Square, unless we wanted to fight the police!

Peering through the fence in the rain

We found a space outside and thanks to a heavy rain shower we got close enough to the fence to observe some of the action, which started with a military parade and a brass band. Even then it was great to be part of the crowd of Nigerians clearly proud of their country, one wanting to see her President, “I want to see his face not his picture, seeing Goodluck will give me Goodluck for the day” and generally excited to be celebrating Nigeria. Many were wearing national colours, and some had their faces painted.

Nigerian facepaint

Later we managed to find our way into Eagle Square, and finally even got a seat, where we saw dancers, an air display, a display of tanks, and then we got the text message from VSO, “confirmed explosions in Eagle Square, please avoid busy areas.” The event then ended suddenly without the President speaking.

Men or possibly women emerging from a helicopter

Once we left the stadium we met some other friends outside who reassured us that Nigeria was a peaceful country and there were no bombers there, it was just a rumour, I did remind them about the underpants bomber, who they disowned rapidly. Finally I checked the BBC website and found the first topic was that there had been two car bombs in Nigeria, then I realised that these weren’t just rumours.



Note my green and white Nigeria is 50 hat and badge!

The sad thing is that this happened on the day the whole world was looking at Nigeria, and it reinforces the negative images about Nigeria, which I had as well before I came here. My journey to Nigeria started last September, with an email from VSO with the Subject : Placement offer in Nigeria, my first thoughts were “Oh no, not Nigeria”. In my mind Nigeria was a place where it was unsafe to walk on the streets, rife with bribery, corruption, kidnapping and armed robbery along with ethnic and religious conflict and violence.

 The reality is very different, I regularly walk around Abuja during daylight hours, and I have never been asked for a bribe. During the seven months I have been here, one friend has been mugged, she was walking alone at night, one person had a phone stolen by a pick-pocket and one VSO staff member was the victim of an armed robbery of the staff car. Now of course none of these things are good but neither do they live up to Nigeria’s reputation.

 On the positive side, I have left my keys in a taxi and the driver looked for me to return them, my friend left her phone in a taxi and the driver returned it, another friend even forgot her laptop in a bar, and went back to find it exactly where she had left it.

 So is Nigeria’s reputation fair, yes and no, of course there is crime and reading the history of the first 50 years of Nigeria tells stories of civil war, coups, military dictators and religious violence, but in my experience Nigeria, is a peaceful country, full of people who love life, and want to live it to the full.

More Independence Day pictures