By Blessing Ibegbu

The Vice-Chancellor of Bingham University, Karu, Nasarawa State, Prof. Kuje Ayuba, said the church has important roles to play in the development and transformation of lives.

Ayuba said this at a public lecture with the theme “Empowering The Church for Greater Societal Impact”.

The Vice-Chancellor said that there was no better time to discuss the topic than now.

“The church is expected to play an important role in the transformation of social, political, economic lives of the citizens.

“It is also expected to put society in a holistic growth and development oriented direction,” he said.

Ayuba, while referring to the church as not just the building, but individuals, said he believed that the solution to the national and global crisis was in the church.

The guest speaker, Prof. John Kennedy Opara, while delivering a lecture, said the church held immense potential for catalysing positive change and fostering societal impact.

Opara, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CSS Group, one of the largest farms in Karu, said the church plays a multifaceted and pivotal role in the society.

According to him, the church as individuals (citizens), helps in encompassing spiritual, social and humanitarian dimensions of citizens.

“The church is vital for community engagement and support in contemporary society.

“One of its fundamental roles is to promote social cohesion and unity.

“The present church must be equipped so as to give life a meaning,” Opara said.

He said that understanding societal challenges comes in different approaches.

According to him, they include; identifying key societal issues, analysing root causes, engage stakeholders and partnerships among others.

He admonished the church to build up men and women of compassion, generosity that would work with dignity.

“The church must encourage its members to engage in productive work that contribute to personal well being and the common good of the society.

“The church should engage in continuous training of members through job entrepreneurship, and job skill training for empowerment of their future.

“It must also introduce microfinance and small business support which in time, people will stand on their own rather than depending on their certificate for job,” Opara added.

Opara said that the church could offer technical assistance to people to help them stand on their feet.

“When you keep mentoring people and some of them get into what you are doing, the story will be a different thing entirely,” Opara said.

Making reference to Israel with strong economy, due to investment on food sustainability, Opara said Nigeria equally needed strong economy by empowering individuals to do same.

“vision is superior to strength and when God put something in our hand, He expect us to use it, as such, the church must never relent in training.

He advised the church to always pray and engage in the word of God.

A staff of the university, Mrs Helen Solomon, who spoke with NAN said the lecture was inspiring.

Solomon appreciated the VC for bringing such an idea, saying that she has been impacted by the lecture.

She said she has already started considering getting into farming rather than waiting and depending on salary always.

Miss Anna Ari, a Law student of the institution said she now understood that vision was a big force that drives an individual.

Ari said that the lecture also taught her that praying for God’s guidance was needed in the pursuit and execution of ones vision. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Dorcas Jonah/Joseph Edeh

By Lucy Ogalue

Stakeholders have urged Heads of State and Government in Africa to scale up the provision of free school meals in spite of the economic challenges.

They spoke on a sideline event at the ongoing African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Annual Meetings in Nairobi.

The theme is “Creating Fiscal Space for School Meals: Towards Agenda 2063, SDGs and Human Capital Development”.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Rockefeller Foundation organised the event in collaboration with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and the World Food Programme,

It focused on how countries could scale up the provision of free school meals to help meet the sustainable development goals and aspirations of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

The agenda for 2063 is termed the “Africa We Want.”

The AfDB President, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, said there was a link between hunger and the development of grey matter.

Adesina, represented by his Director of Agriculture and Agro-Industry, Dr Martin Fregene, said freedom from hunger was a human right.

He said that when children had good meals, they would go back to school again and again, and food production created demand for farmers and secured markets for products, assisting economic growth.

According to Adesina, the universal primary education across Africa (SDG 2) initiative, which is strongly supported by the Bank Group, has made significant progress.

He said that for it to be realised, it had to be accompanied by planet-friendly, homegrown school meal programmes.

Adesina acknowledged that many African governments were grappling with the adverse economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising food inflation, and losses and damages associated with climate change-induced natural disasters, among other things.

The AfDB president said the Bank had supported healthy meals initiatives with some 100 million dollars so far.

Former Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, current chair of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), said “No child today should go to school hungry.”

Therefore, he called for new and innovative ways to finance school meals to ensure that they are free for schoolchildren.

Given current economic circumstances, Kikwete called for an acceleration in the drive to achieve the SDGs through creative thinking and not falling further behind.

He reiterated that this was because school children were the guardians of Africa’s future and critical in achieving the “Africa We Want”.

Kikwete praised the recent debt swap for education deals with partners, highlighting a recently concluded agreement between France and Ivory Coast.

He said the multiplier effect every dollar spent on education, including the free meals initiative, had on overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) performances.

The stakeholders highlighted that many countries on the continent were contending with constrained fiscal space exacerbated by rising debt service costs, creating a silent debt crisis.

They said high debt service payments squeezed out spending on critical interventions that could accelerate Agenda 2063 and SDG implementation.

The stakeholders then said that free meals helped children’s cognitive capacities, increased attendance levels, improved health and nutrition and general well-being. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Sadiya Hamza