Thanksgiving: Olumakaiye tasks Sanwo-Olu on poverty alleviation

Dean, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion (emeritus), the Most Revd. Ephraim Adebola Ademowo (left), Governor-elect, Lagos State, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-olu, Deputy Governor-elect, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, Bishop of the Diocese of Lagos, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Rt. Rev. Humphrey Olumakaiye, Dr. (Mrs.) Claudiana Ibijoke Sanwo-olu and Mrs. Oluremi Hamzat at the order of thanksgiving service at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Okepopo, Lagos, yesterday.

Rt. Revd (Dr) Humphrey Bamisebi Olumakaiye, the Diocesan Bishop of Lagos Anglican Communion on Sunday, told the Lagos State Governor-elect, Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu to ensure the alleviation of poverty in Lagos State. CYRIACUS NNAJI reports.

On Sunday the Lagos State Governor-elect, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu went to the church to thank God for helping him emerge winner as Governor-elect of Lagos State.

The Thanksgiving Service which was held at St Andrew’s Anglican Church, Okepopo, Lagos was an occasion for the revered man of God, Rt. Revd (Dr) Humphrey Bamisebi Olumakaiye advised the governor elect on the myriads of problems confronting Lagos even as he reminded him to hold on to God in order to achieve greatness.

 His words “My advice to him is that he should serve the people diligently, selflessly, with total dedication, and when you serve the people diligently, selflessly I am sure the people will serve him for life, and that is the principle of the kingdom. So I want him to be dedicated in the service, to the people and also to show total commitment with integrity of heart and with the fear of God, with this I believe he will be able to achieve success.”

Olumakaiye also advised the Governor-elect not to forget God “It is also my advice that he should try as much as possible to respect the people that he is governing, and he should show a sense of humility, above all he should hold on tenaciously to the word of God. Let the word of God be his guiding principle, to guide him in everything that he does and he should not also forget the power of prayer, because it is always well with the prayerful. As I advise him during his campaign, he came, we prayed for him. Now is an opportunity for him to come back and thank God for what He has done for him; that God answers prayers and that God that has answered him, he should not leave that God. 

"Just like my charge taking from the book of Joshua chapter 1 verse 8, that he should be courageous, he should show firmly to God and by the special grace of God he should not allow the book of God to depart from his mouth. He should meditate on it each day, day and night, he should read the word of God , he should digest it , internalize it, give it life application and by so doing take this state to higher height. And he should not also forget those that have helped him, to get into that position.”

On the area of priority he said “The area I want him to focus on, the people are suffering, people are really suffering, and he should find a way so that we can alleviate poverty in the land. And the traffic situation in Lagos is so enormous, at times it can be very annoying, very tiring, very disturbing and when you look at the economic part of it, you know that the state is not gaining, so he should look into that by making sure that we have free-flow of traffic in Lagos, so that we can save time to do other things that will lift the economy of Lagos higher.

On his part, the Governor-elect, Mr Sanwo-Olu, appealed to Lagosian for patience, adding that he would do his best to deliver democratic dividend to his people.