His Eminence, Dr. Samuel Chukwuemeka Uche, who became the Prelate of Methodist Church Nigeria in 2013, retires after nine years of meritorious service. After a send-off ceremony organised in his honour at the MUSON Centre, Lagos, he spoke to ISAAC TAIWO on the state of nation and his service in the Lord’s vineyard.
What were your experiences steering the ship of Methodist Church for nine years?
Well, I can just describe it as a university of experience. The experience was not bought in the market; it is what you can see and touch, that affects you negatively or positively. Overall, the experience has been vast and varied, but it has been very nice and rewarding.
However, leadership of the church is not without challenges. The work involves reaching out to the local communities, the nation as a whole, and the international communities. We have Methodist Church branches in United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Zambia, Togo, Benin Republic, and Equatorial Guinea. We have branches in some African countries, where the Nigerian members are mostly traders. The Zambia Ambassador is a Methodist.
There were challenges too; the good, the bad and the ugly. It was good as we were able to expand the frontiers of the Methodist Church Nigeria. At our recent conference, we elected 30 Bishops for 30 new Dioceses including the Diocese of USA. We took bold steps to extend to the North, far North, Middle Belt, North East, North West and Middle Belt. That showed that God is with us in all our activities.
How were you able to handle the expansion?
We operated on trust. We have more than 154,500 priests scattered all over the nation. We start from what we call local church. Each local church must have one or two personnel. After that, we have what we call circuits. This is a combination of many local church branches. We also have what we call Presbyter of the circuits. Presbyters, whether they are 30 or 40 in a Diocese, report to the Bishop. Bishops report to the Archbishop in that Diocese and the Diocese reports to the Conference. I oversee all these through my Archbishops, Bishops and other ministers.
We apply what we call division of labour with many people working towards the growth of the church. This is what we call organisational structure in management or administration. We inherited this system from the founder of our church, John Wesley. Where there were emergencies, I intervened. Where there were crisis, I also intervened. For instance, people thought that there would be crisis in the election of the new Prelate because many ministers were qualified. No one becomes a Prelate unless he has a Masters degree and above. One can have Ph.D or even be a Professor.
In the election, we had 26 people who were 60 years and above. Anyone under 60 is not qualified. In addition to that, one must be spiritually and morally sound; so, the screening was difficult. It took us from 3.30 p.m. to 1.30 a.m. the next day to elect the new Prelate without bitterness and rancour. We also elected Archbishops, Bishops and others. It was peaceful. We operate pure democracy. We do not manipulate anything. We do not use money to influence anybody. I think our church can be reckoned with as one of the best organised churches. Everybody has a say. Everyone has the freedom to make his/her suggestions, but the church would analyse and evaluate the suggestions. This is how we administer the church and it is excellent as far as I am concerned.
I belief Nigeria should learn from us in choosing its leaders. There should be no biases or favouritism of a particular candidate. There should be level playing ground. Everybody must be given the opportunity to contest. Once we do that, such system will be very stable and remain focused.
What are some of your achievements?
During my tenure, we planted about 260 new church branches. We ordained more than 720 new priests. We commissioned more than 720 Deacons. When we commission a Deacon, he stays two or three years, depending on the qualification and level of intake. He does what we call probation. If he passes all the examinations, he is ordained a priest. Presbyter is by appointment. When Bishop recommends, the Prelate would look at it, then approve. We have preferred over 450 Presbyters. We have elected more than 49 Bishops. We have replaced dead Bishops or retired ones. I think we have done well in the area of expansion.
What would you say about your abduction and the church’s response?
I feel very happy because if you go to 2 Corinthians, Chapter 11, Paul enumerated his many ugly experiences; all the afflictions, all the betrayals, all the beatings, all the imprisonments. But he said, finally and above all, in Chapter 12, verse 3 or so: “Of all these things, God has allowed some things to afflict me physically. I pleaded with God three times to remove it, but He said, my Grace is sufficient unto thee. So God’s grace has been sufficient.
Experience in the hands of kidnappers is a very harrowing one. The experience has exposed me to what kidnappers do to people. I now know the people and their tribe. I know where they come from and I know that they have bad intention for the country. I have exposed them to the government. The onus lies on government to either take it or leave it.
What are your reflections on the nation?
The outgoing government has no good intentions. It has followed the same pattern of successive governments of looting the treasury. I understand that in politics, no matter what they say during campaign, when they assume office, they do the opposite. Nigerian politicians do not serve; they come to loot. This is the summary.
I know that in developed countries, like the United States of America, before anyone becomes a parliamentarian, he/she must have a job. The contrary is what we have in Nigeria. Politics in Nigeria is a profession because of hunger. People we knew long before they become politicians are today swimming in money. They have vehicles, houses and cannot accurately account for the source of their sudden wealth. This is the reason I like what the Governor of Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele has done with regards to the redesigning of the Naira. It will detect some of the thieves among us. Those keeping money at home will be confused. It is no doubt contributing to the price of dollar now. Rather than going to bank, people prefer to buy dollar from the black market. This is the reason for the rise in price of dollar.
Nigerians should in 2023 polls vote for people who have performed creditably. Nigerians should go back to farming. We have a lot of arable land. The minimum wage should not be less than N120, 000. Those paying people N30,000 are sending Nigerians to their early graves.
Whether people like it or not, Nigeria is becoming a failed nation. The reality is in the market, along the streets. People are dying. Abraham Maslow, in his hierarchy of needs, talked about food first, followed by security and clothing. For survival, man needs food, security and shelter. After the Federal Executive Council meeting, a minister was saying that Nigeria has enough grain. If so, why is the price not controlled for the common man to buy a bag of rice at N10,000? Is the grain available to everybody? We talk about farming, how will the common man go to the farm now without security? Strangers have infiltrated our country. Who are those manning our boarders? If we do not have enough people in the immigration or customs, why can’t we employ more?
If we want to save this country, we should be serious. Politicians do not have the interest of Nigerians at heart; they only want to embezzle money. If they want to save this country, they should be serious and be determined. Many of our leaders live with impunity. They want to have everything with their shoulders raised high. I like to remind them that they are dusts and clay. One day, all these things will stop.
How can we tackle insecurity?
Insecurity in Nigeria is caused by lack of good leadership. If there is food for everybody and job for majority of the people, insurgency will reduce drastically. Foreign terrorists that come to Nigeria cannot act effectively without local collaborators.
How about corruption?
When there is a build up of issues on corruption, it becomes humongous and sometimes uncontrollable. Take, for instance, the issue of the recent flooding in the country if properly traced will hinged on corruption.
Cameroun government said flooding in Nigeria was as a result of neglect on behalf of our government in doing the needful. When the dam in Cameroun was being constructed, there was an agreement that Nigeria would construct another dam that would always take the overflow of that dam at their end. However, Nigeria reneged and would not do her own part. That led us to the serious flooding that took place. Though there has been this universal or global problem of flooding, that of Nigeria would have been mitigated if those in charge of the environment took the necessary steps.
As the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi said there was ecological fund earmarked for that project. This, to the best of my knowledge, has always been under the custody of the Secretary to the Federal Government. We heard that whenever ecological fund is allocated, some governors would ask that the money be kept. After some time, they would just share it, however, this is yet to be confirmed. Nine of our church branches around Yenagoa were affected and we have already sent some relief materials to them. They have no place to worship now. The branches are now inhabitable.
How supportive has your wife been in your ministry?
She has been a pillar of support. If I have a big head, there must be a strong neck to carry my big head. My wife is the strong neck. God gave her to me as a gift.
What do you think you were not able to do?
I wish I was able to give Methodist Church a television station, but the prices the engineers were quoting were humongous. I believe the person that will succeed me will be able to achieve that because we have set the process in motion. We want to use that medium to spread the good news. There were many things we proposed to do, however, we are glad we achieved 90 per cent of them. We were able to do a lot on evangelism and spirituality, as well as on Church growth. My wife did what no other woman could have done for this Church. We worked together; we were co-labourers. She is Evangelist Dame Nneoma Uche. She is the President of Methodist Church Women Fellowship in Nigeria and in the Diaspora.
What next after retirement?
Despite my retirement, I will be a preacher throughout my life. I will be preaching and praying. I will keep on talking about Jesus Christ. I will be a mouthpiece for the downtrodden.
What are the legacies you are leaving behind?
Transparency and fairness to all. I hate seeing people afflicted with poverty. Whatever, I can do to remove them from poverty, I do. While I was celebrating my birthday, I visited homes for the elderly and the motherless babies. These are the places I visit each time I celebrate my birthdays since I came to Lagos.
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