This presentation was made by Chief Akin Fasae on behalf of the Ekiti State Governor at the Synod 2012 of the St. Stephen Anglican Church, Ora-Igbomina, Osun State of Friday July 6th 2012.

1. The Imperatives of Values-Driven Regeneration and Renewal in Troubled Nigeria
J. ‘Kayode Fayemi
The Lord Bishop of the Osun North East Diocese of the Anglican Communion, the Rt. Rev,
Humphrey B. Olumakaiye, Distinguished Bishops, my fathers and brothers in the Communion of
Our Lord Jesus Christ, I feel highly honoured and privileged to be invited into your midst at this
occasion of the 2012 Synod of this Diocese to share a few thoughts on the necessity and process
for the regeneration and renewal of our great country, Nigeria, which has unfortunately fallen
into troubled times at this critical juncture in the twenty-first century. First, I would like to
recognise and express my deep appreciation for your prayers, efforts and well-wish during the
dark days preceding the restoration of our legitimate democratic mandate in Ekiti State, and for
the persistent moral support you have been offering for the success of our mission and
intervention in our State. May the Almighty in his eternal goodness and benevolence continue to
uphold your forthrightness and candour, which will keep serving as a beacon of hope for
successive generations in Nigeria.
As we are all aware, the more than five decades of our independent existence as a country has
been defined by a series of crises that have, in its darker manifestations, led many folks,
communities and groups to either take up arms against each other, against the Nigerian State, or
resolved in calls for the unpacking of the unwieldy amalgam that many consider our country to
be; and which has attracted the perception – both internally and externally – of Nigeria as a
‘failed state.’ Moreover, the discontentment and resentment that have brewed for so long across
the land have sought expression in all sorts of distortions, whether these occur in the manner of
religious or ethnic strife, or the more corrosive phenomenon of corruption that has permeated
virtually all the strata of the social space. These have particularly reached their lowest points
more recently times and forced our country to yield grounds to unprecedented grand-scale heist
of public funds, the exploitation of relationships for material gains or benefits, the whittling

2. down of the culture of being one’s brother’s or sister’s keeper, the violence of social disharmony
and strife, political brigandage, the routine rehearsal and enactment of acts of terrorism, and
other such indices that reveal the fragmented nature of our union in Nigeria. What binds all of
these malaises together is the lack of a community, as a country is essentially a community of
shared values and interests across different groups, which is the only basis on which it (the
community) can be defended and preserved as a corporate entity.
I am of the conviction that the fragmentary state of our union in Nigeria, making many actors
and stakeholders consider the nation as merely a tool for the seeking and promotion of self-
interest and exploitation, without any tangible recourse to allegiance for the greater good, is due
to the fact that we have failed to build upon and affirm a community of values and a common
morality that would bind each and every one together to see ourselves as subscribing to a
corporate identity. This essentially encapsulates the trouble with Nigeria. While our social
scientists and pundits have traced the problems with the country as emanating from the political
and structural imbalances in the architecture of the nation, which have been exacerbated by the
depth and extent of the poverty and immiseration of the people, we have equally failed to
develop a community of values and a common morality that is crucial to the process of forging a
common destiny and nationality. This is what is necessary for the regeneration of Nigeria, of
which Christianity and the Church have a vital role to play.
The Imperative of Positive Values
Values are the products of and store of the ethics and morals of a society, which are regarded as
‘good’ and determine how people interact. It enables the smooth functioning of society and
strengthens its fabric, while adding up to form the social capital in an environment. The ‘family’,
as the most basic unit of society, is the originary locus of socialisation through which ‘values’ or
what are considered as good and desirable conduct and attitude are imparted into an individual,

3. from which he or she then progresses to other levels in the socialisation process, such as the
school and church, through which the person’s consciousness and worldview is shaped.
The Sunday School programme across the Anglican Communion, and in several other churches
play a most significant role in instructing our young people on values such as the respect for
human life, for ones parents and elders, for other people, for the dignity of hard-work and labour
(‘ise loogun ise’, as the Yoruba have formulated it), for the living of a decent life; and for
contentment for what one has, for honesty and forthrightness at all times, etc. The Church has
also been the matrix for the shaping of the human character in terms of humility, perseverance,
dedication, chastity, fidelity, trustworthiness, and the general pursuit of a more spiritual life, as
against a crass material outlook, etc. Hence, in this traditional role, the Church has played the
role of moulding citizens who have the capacity to interact with folks from other spheres of
socialisation without being judgemental, condescending, overbearing or dismissive. And, in
upholding the example of Our Lord Jesus Christ and his ministry while on earth, the Church has
evolved people who believe in collaborative value and community, as this has been the
sustaining ideal that has moved the ministry of Christ through time and an expanding
discipleship across different nations and peoples, who passed His message down to our
generation. As such, this affirms the essential need for collaboration in building community
around a value in order to make it enduring. Such communal ethos speaks to a 21st Century that
is anchored upon alliance, not hierarchy, among citizens, and its attendant values include
participation, dialogue and trust.
The breakdown of some of the positive values that were enthroned by the Church, as it is evident
in present day Nigeria, can be traced – to large extents – to the ascendance of the militarised
ethics, coming at vital points in our history, which promoted a very material culture that proved
abrasive to much of what had earlier being. And, even the Church and its leadership were,
unfortunately, not insulated from this, as it became a ground for material fare and Christians
became gradually subsumed in a system of value upturn and the valorisation of an individualism
that negated the purpose of a communal ethos.

4. The Regeneration of Values: the Man that We Follow
The example of the values that Our Lord Jesus Christ lived for and affirmed, as laid down in the
Holy scriptures, is critical in understanding the significance of the sort of values that we need to
imbibe and promote in the attempt to enable a values-driven regeneration in Nigeria during these
troubled times. And, it is worthy of note that the essence of His ministry was one that provided
for the whole of humanity and advocated the enthronement of a common morality that cut across
peoples and their alliances, and is a worthwhile manifesto for the diversity and differences that
characterise our present reality. Jesus Christ valued the sanctity of human life, as was evident in
his raising of people from the dead and the dread of his own death, as he prayed that he may be
spared of that experience (Matthew 26:39), and he also valued good health, as most of his
miracles involved healing (such as in Luke 17: 11-19). He regarded food and clothing as being
good, as the Heavenly Father knows that we need these (Matthew 6:31-32), as we also need
shelter, which was the point in the parable of the wise and foolish builders (Matthew 7:24-27).
Jesus Christ valued the family, which was why he was obedient to his parents as a young boy
(Luke 2:51), and he adopted the metaphor of fatherly love for children to depict God’s love for
humanity (Luke 11: 11-13), while also entrusting the care of his mother to John, his disciple, as
he lay dying on the cross (John 19: 26-27).
Jesus valued knowledge and understanding (Luke 2: 46-47); happiness as a reward for faithful
servants in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25: 14-23); and friendship and community,
through his profound friendship with Mary, Martha and Lazarus (John 11:15), and his
relationship with his disciples (John 15:15). He taught that we should shun materialism, as the
highest good was in seeking eternal life in the Kingdom of God (“Gather not your riches up upon
this earth, for there your heart will be also”), which he also illustrated through the story of the
rich man who asked to sell all his earthly possessions and distribute the proceeds to the poor if he
sought eternal life (“How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God” (Mark 10:23)).

5. In his ministry, Jesus enunciated on the value of pacifism and the renunciation of violence
(instead of the classical creed of an eye for an eye, “if a man strikes you on one cheek, turn the
other cheek”); unconditional love (“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”);
the forgiveness of sins (“forgive our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”),
and fidelity in marriage (“Whom God has joined together, let no man put asunder”). On the level
of what is considered as the Golden Rules and Values of his ministry, which are the fundamental
essences of the building of community, Jesus Christ emphasised that “Love your neighbour as
yourself” (Matthew 22:39), and “in everything, do to others as you would have them do to you,
for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7: 12).
Significantly, Our Lord Jesus Christ exemplified the values of selflessness and humility in the
way he interacted with his disciples, as shown in his washing of their feet; the manner in which
he dressed like them (his disciples); his lack of discrimination of outcasts and lowly people who
related with him, and the lepers who he did not shy away from; in how he taught his followers to
have respect for the law and civil responsibility through the payment of their taxes (“give unto
Ceaser what belongs to Ceaser, and unto God what belongs to him”) and he set practical
examples by paying his tax (Romans 13: 1-7; Matthew 17:24); in the way he cared for children
and young people; the brotherly love that he showed the people around him; and in his spirit of
forgiveness (Matthew 18: 21-22). In the classic Sermon on the Mount that he delivered
(Matthew 5-7), Christ informed on the Values of his kingdom in which there are blessings for
peacemakers, the righteous, the merciful, the pure in heart, the meek, and the reviled. And, in
terms of the insecurity that drives the most pernicious forms of individualism and corruption, as
has been witnessed in this country, the value of trust in the ultimate benevolence of Almighty is
pointed out in the proclamation that “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store
away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. ... See how the lilies of the field grow.
They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed
like one of these” (Matthew 6:26, 28, 29).

6. In the ministry of the Apostle Paul, the equality of all people before Christ is revealed in the
words that, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3: 28); and also the lack of the regard
for hierarchies in human beings is highlighted: “And, ye masters, do the same things unto them,
forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of
persons with him” (Ephesians 6:9). The sense of the industry of Christ emanates in the
completion of his commission as he said to the Almighty that “I have glorified thee on the earth:
I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4). In all of these, the abiding value
that traversed his sojourn and ministry on earth was Love, which was the fulfilment of all
purpose, and was well articulated through that which the Almighty had for humanity in offering
his only son for the redemption of all (John 3:16).
Values Driven Renewal in Nigeria
As pointed out above, most of the crises that we are going through in Nigeria at this point can be
traced to the lack of a shared community of values across the various folks and groups in the
country, which are strung together by a common morality of what is right or good. As such,
many people do not feel a sense of identity beyond those of their narrow self or primordial
interests, whether ethnic or religious, etc. The different political, structural, and economic
imbalances in our country today have only been accentuated by a general collapse in values,
which has led to monumental material and moral corruption, violence, religious extremism,
terrorism, etc. And, in the drive towards regeneration and renewal in Nigeria, the Church has a
very critical role to play and it needs to take back its position at the head of the table.
The Values which the Church stands for, as laid down by Our Lord Jesus Christ and alluded to
earlier, are at the cornerstone of any attempt at renewal in Nigeria. And, while this emphasises
the values that we have largely lost sight of in our country at the present, such as the sanctity of
human life, love, brotherliness, hard-work and industry, fidelity, the renunciation of violence, a

7. communal spirit, etc, equally provisions earlier encapsulated in the scriptures such as the Ten
Commandments, which deemphasise murder, dishonesty, covetousness, bearing false witness,
etc need to be vigorously reintegrated into the fabric of our socialisation in Nigeria. This, the
Church can, and must, do as a sustainer of Values, through its role in the design of programmes
and activities that impact directly on the family as the primary social cell; and through its
unadulterated messages from the pulpit and at Sunday Schools. More so, the education and
reorientation in positive values of the youth – since this is possibly the most susceptible stratum
of society – is a task that Church and the larger society must take seriously, if we are going to
witness a New Day in Nigeria. Also importantly, we need to set up mechanisms and structures
that promote and sustain collaborative values across creeds, ways-of-life, and nationalities in our
country as a way towards building a more enduring community that is bound by a common
mnorality, because collaboration is essentially what drives nationhood, and we have seen some
of the Values that Jesus Christ upheld in advancing the cause of his Ministry. I am sure that with
the Almighty God on our side, we shall triumph over the numerous and seemingly overwhelming
challenges that we are confronted with in Nigeria today.
This presentation was made by Chief Akin Fasae on behalf of the Ekiti State Governor at the
Synod 2012 of the St. Stephen Anglican Church, Ora-Igbomina, Osun State of Friday July 6th
2012