As the nation prepares to mark its 55th year of independence, President Muhammadu Buhari would address the nation by 7 am on October 1st in a nationwide broadcast. Presidency sources said the President’s message would be sober and reassuring of a better Nigeria and the essence of the change mantra that won him the election.
It would centre on anti-corruption war, national security and the need for Nigerians of all creed to be willing and ready to make a sacrifice for the common good of the Nigerian society.
Meantime, all is set for Christ Embassy Church’s orientation and nationalism awakening programme, Reachout Campaign. This year’s five-in-one campaign is tagged: ‘Dawning a new nation’. The nationwide campaign which will begin on October 1st and run throughout the month to commemorate the nation’s independence will see the distribution of 30 million copies of Rhapsody of Reality daily devotion across the country in 38 different Nigerian languages to cater for every ethnic group.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos, the Regional Director Christ Embassy Abuja, Pastor Chidi Ezimako said that the Reachout campaign which is in its 9th year was birthed to rekindle the Nigerian spirit and generate the drive for nation-building both individually and collectively as a people.
“Those who have lost faith and hope in this country now have a new lease of life as a result of this initiative. Many believed that as a nation we had nothing to celebrate going by the economic down turn but many churches and organisations have seen the need to bring back hope to the citizens through campaigns such as these to mark our years of nationhood as they make out something big from this celebration”.
Reach out Nigeria campaign, he added, affords us the opportunity to be part of our nation’s greatness; a nation with rich cultural heritage and beautiful people and a vast space of natural resources that has kept us relevant in the international scene. This is a time for us to rekindle our faith and pray for our nation and its people.
“The result has been phenomenal as we have seen remarkable progress in all ramifications; locally and in the international scene. This is evident in the areas of sports, commerce, industry etc. This celebration of our nation’s 55th independence is sure to reflect positively on the nation, more so as we have transited to an era of change in our political history. It is our earnest desire to inspire hope in the citizens and to impact the governance of our nation positively, especially as we strive to expunge earnestly the desired change. We believe in the unending possibilities of greatness in our nation through the influence of God’s word, through the Rhapsody of realities which is translated into 640 different spoken languages in the world. We believe that the spirit of God is a proven agent of change and we’ve seen this as a reality in our country today”, he said
Pastor Chidi said that this year’s campaign is flagged with exciting programs geared towards bringing peace and light to the nation with events such as concerts, road shows, Love World parades and exhibition, while also again executing a lot of projects across the nation which includes adopting a host community by instituting sustainable community development projects (in schools, prisons, hospitals, skill acquisition programs and other public agencies etc.) that will better the lives of the resident communities which is part of the church’s CSR activity that has commenced in various parts of the country.
“As we mark another year of the Reach out campaign, think of what you can do for the nation and not what the nation will do for you. This project will supersede others carried out in the previous years,” he added.
On his part Pastor Lanre Alabi said that he is excited about the campaign because what the church is distributing is primarily the word of God, which according to him is the best gift for a nation like ours. ” You can give out gifts of say food, the person will definitely get hungry again but in addition to other things we’re doing, what we’re giving out is a word that when you receive it makes you better tomorrow”.
