Bishop Oyedepo speaks on hard times in Nigeria

Chancellor of Covenant University (CU) Ota Ogun State, Dr. David Oyedepo, has stated that virtually everybody in Nigeria is complaining that things are not working.

He said it is high time people learnt to ‘Stop being merely bookish and start grooming thinkers’.

Oyedepo, who doubles as the presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, delivered the keynote address at the 54th meeting of the Committee of Deans of Post Graduate Schools (CDPGS) in Nigerian Universities at CU premises.

Oyedepo said global solution providers such as Nibert Einsten, Isaac Newton, and The Right Brothers among others, once had a brainwave in their time which led to great revolutions in their respective fields.

He warned Nigerians that repeated complaints would not work; but that they should battle their challenges headlong.

He said: “Everywhere I go in Nigeria today, everybody continues to complain that things are not working; but who will start how things will work and when? That person is you and that time is now; and post graduate education should serve as a platform for inciting our students into thinking solutions. Today, it is thinkers that rule the world and we should be development-oriented in things we do”

“Leadership is not being in the driver seat, but adding values. As a dean, you must start thinking what difference you are going to make in that position; what contributions in terms of innovations and feat. You have no business being in that position if you cannot make that difference that will be a reference point to your successors years after you have left.”

Further, Oyedepo opined that the ‘read thinking’; concept which according to him, combines research alongside critical thinking of solutions.