Former speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has urged Christians to be better united and contribute their quota in surmounting the challenges facing the nation.
Dogara made the call at the 45th Anniversary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) held in Abuja on Friday.
The event is with the theme: “The Church and the Doctrine of Regeneration in the Transformation of Nigeria”.
According to Dogara, the unity of the church cannot be over emphasised as it is important to the body of Christ.
Dogara, who was the chairman of the event, stated that unity was the burning desire of God for the church to be one and not the crowd that overflowed in the church.
“We love crowd but we do not love the people, if we love people and their souls that is the essence of unity.
“If we unite as a church, nothing will be impossible for us to achieve,” Dogara said.
Prof. Dapo Asaju, the former Vice Chancellor Ajayi Crowther University, in his keynote address called for unity in the church, saying that it had not been achieved.
“Regeneration of the heart and mind of Nigerians is needed for the fundamental transformation of the nation.
“The church must first cure itself and leaders should wake up and stop playing with the church but assume roles as watchmen over the affairs of Nigeria,” he said.
Prof. Vincent Anigbogu, the Director-General, the Institute for National Transformation International said that Christians had been battered and humbled by the series of challenges they did not anticipate.
“The church needs to regenerate and upgrade her doctrine if she were to survive the current and emerging global trends,” he said.
Anigbogu advised CAN to tell the truth to the people to build themselves, saying that there were many deceptions in the country.
“CAN can build a pharmaceutical industry, produce their own medicines that will be used to solve the health issues surrounding the nation,” he said.
He said that there was need to train more priests in conflict resolution and raise people like Joseph to rise in pressing issues of the country.
The National President of CAN, Rev. Samson Ayokunle said that CAN was established to promote peace and unity among Christians and be the mouthpiece of the oppressed.
He said that CAN would be strengthened as its members were encouraging churches to exist from indifference and lackadaisical attitude towards elections.
“The church has sufficient population to effect positive change in governments at all levels,” he said.