Christian Intercessors Department (CID) of the Joint Faith Peace Initiative (JFPI), in collaboration with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has concluded plans to organise a 72-hour Marathon Prayer and Fasting for divine intervention in Nigeria, with the theme “God Remember Nigeria in Mercy”.
The initiative‘s coordinator, Dr Liberty Okon, who delivered an address at the programme‘s National Advisory Board and National Planning Committee, explained that it is designed to create a conducive spiritual atmosphere to provoke supernatural intervention in Nigeria.
Okon said they decided to organise the marathon fasting and prayers because Nigeria has consistently passed through thick and thin in her nationhood.
“On the security front, the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, upsurge in banditry and kidnapping, heinous crimes and criminality, and militancy in the Niger Delta region are biting hard on the nation‘s security and infrastructure, to mention but a few.
“In addition, the sustained negative impact of the civil war in the South East has not abated. It has given birth to groups such as IPOB and other forms of youth restiveness. On the economic front, corruption, which gives birth to poverty, is at an alarming rate. The dip in the naira, inflation, and low productivity are ravaging the landscape of our precious nation.
“On the social side of the aisle, consistent ethno-religious crisis, violence against women at the home front, and poor upbringing of our children are on the rise, not to mention the abject hunger currently affecting every nook and cranny of the country,“ he said.
He said that due to some of these problems, many Nigerians are refugees in their father‘s land, and international foreign investors are wary of investing in the country.
Locally, many farmers are finding it difficult to engage in farming activities because of the prevalent insecurity nationwide. This is increasing poverty and hunger in the land, hence the urgent call for the 72 Hours Marathon Prayer and Fasting,“ he said.
CAN national director of planning, research, and strategy Bishop Micheal Akpami inaugurated the Advisory Board, which has the Tor Tiv of Benue State, Prof. James Iorzua Ayatse, as its chairman.
The Tor Tiv, also the chairman of Benue State Council of Traditional Rulers, said that Nigeria is facing serious challenges and that prayer can only help Nigerians.
Depending on leaders and human beings will not give us what we need. It depends on God in prayers. It is God who can move the hand of our leaders and grant them the wisdom, courage, and even the resources to change the narrative of this country.
Irrespective of whatever we do, nothing can be achieved without God. This is why this is where to start. Only God knows human minds; He alone can control them. Politicians and political leaders are as slippery as anything you can imagine.
It is only God pining them down that they can do the needful. Therefore, this prayer is the key to the challenge that we have been having, and I believe in the efficacy of prayers. I have seen God change certain things because of prayers,“ he said.
