People in the church are going through pains every day, says CAN president

Samson Ayokunle, a reverend and president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), wants the federal government to “buckle up” in addressing the nation’s economic crisis.

According to Ayokunle, the pains of the people are so widespread that people in the church are not excluded.

Ayokunle was speaking on Saturday at a thanksgiving service organised by CAN to honour him and Joseph Otubu, vice-president of the association, at the national christian centre, Abuja.

He called on the leadership of the country to face the challenges with optimism, and urged Nigerians to embrace hard work as a way of meeting the demands of the nation’s current economic condition.

He said the current economic crisis is a global phenomenon, hence it should be addressed with hope and not with frustration.

“The church does not have political and economic power to address the current changes. What we have is the spiritual power,”NAN quoted him as saying.

“We have called for a national prayer; the other thing we can do is to urge government to buckle up.

“They are the last resort for Nigerians; they manage the national wealth so they should be courageous. Tough times don’t last but tough people do.

“We know the pains you in the church are going through; we see you everyday; we know that some of you have not received your salaries for the past seven months.

“Our theology of work must change; hard work is what will move this nation from the economic condition that we have found ourselves in.”

In his sermon, Peter Akinola, an archbishop and former CAN president, who was represented by Emmanuel Egbunu, an archbishop, called on Ayokunle to lead Christians on the right direction regardless of the growing challenges.

“There has been a lot of blame game yet there is so much to be done,” Akinola said.

‘’We have a lot of work to do as a nation that talks about change. Nigeria has been lying waste as a nation while so many things go wrong.”

He said the problems of the country required focus on what would work rather than what had failed.

Past leaders of the association were all honoured for their contributions towards the growth of the association and Christianity in general.