Recently, Ikotun-Egbe, a remote suburb of Lagos began to attract lots of visitors and 'religious' tourists from various countries, on account of the activities of The Synagogue Church located in the environ. The area, however, remains in a total state of neglect, a situation residents and visitors alike say projects the country in bad light. By Gboyega Alaka reports
Located in the heart of Ikotun-Egbe, a suburb of Lagos is The Synagogue Church of All Nations. It is a Christian worship centre that has over the last two decades continued to grow in strength locally and internationally, albeit sometimes generating controversy over its founder's purported healing powers.
More recently, the popularity seems to have doubled, as more and more people now troop into the area to worship at the church and seek 'miraculous healing' from every known and unknown sundry ailments, ranging from the physical to the spiritual. Close observers of happenings in the church and even residents of the area would swear that the level of growth in the last decade or so has been unprecedented, with its impact on its immediate environment very evident. For instance, Tosin Ayinde, a clearing agent and resident of Bolounpelu, in the Egbe neighbourhood, which is the immediate host of the church, has seen how the church's growth has led to an economic boom in the area. This, he said, he never thought was possible. According to him, every single business embarked on anywhere within the vicinity of the church is bound to be successful because of the mammoth crowd that now regularly visit the area. More especially, he says hospitality businesses, such as hotels and lodges, restaurants, cybercafés and other service delivery businesses have benefited the most. In the last year or two, Ayinde revealed that he can specifically count five hotels that have sprung up in the area, mainly to service visitors and worshippers of the church. And that, he says, excludes the landlords and property owners in the area who have converted their houses and homes to informal lodging facilities to do business and make quick money. He confirmed that the visitors are not limited to just Nigerians and Africans, adding that one only needs to worship in the church or tune to its Emmanuel TV channel, to see the number of its European members and other nationals.
To more discerning observers, the implication of this scenario is that The Synagogue Church has gradually and steadily evolved and transformed the area into a religious tourists centre that can no longer be ignored by the government, whether local, state or federal. Unlike several other Nigerian churches that have continued to grow in strength only within and amongst Nigerians, The Synagogue's popularity and spread has been trans-national and it is not uncommon to encounter some of these foreign nationals during routine visits to the area, as experienced by this reporter during his fact-finding visits. On more than one occasion, he had met a good number of Americans, Germans, as well as Cameroonians, as well as a horde of excited South Africans in rickety public yellow buses. Ghanaians and Kenyans are not left out. As expected, some of them have in addition to their primary motive for visiting, succumbed to the natural tourist urge to move into town and see the surrounding environment and places of interest. The big problem, however, is that there is hardly anything of interest to see on this axis of Lagos, except of course the massive edifice of the church itself and the terrible pot-hole-ridden roads and traffic snarl leading in and out of the area. As a matter of fact, the major road leading to Ikotun-Egbe around the Iyana-Ejigbo axis is currently in a total state of collapse, culminating in a daily aggravated vehicular traffic that many say rank amongst the worst in Lagos, and by implication, the country. This, of course, means that residents and commuters in the area generally have to put up with terribly long hours in hold-ups, with little or no solution in sight.
Says Ayinde, "Considering the number of international visitors that this area receives, it is a case of national embarrassment that the roads leading to the area remain so deplorable, with little or no effort to upgrade it." He recalls how even the late President Atta Mills of Ghana, an admirer of Prophet Temitope Balogun (TB) Joshua and faithful of the Synagogue Church had, to come all the way to the church for thanksgiving after winning his country's presidential election a few years back. He wonders how government, despite being aware of the influx of foreign nationals of different pedigrees to the area, expects Nigeria to be viewed, when its roads remain in such disgraceful state.
The South African perspective
James Nomvete, a South African from Johannesburg, appeared very happy and excited to be in Nigeria. It, however, didn't take long before his excitement began to dissipate, on account of the bumpy drive, a direct result of the terrible state of the roads, and of course the endless traffic jams. Dressed in a Bafana Bafana (South African national football team) jersey, he had earlier beamed as he settled in the bus: "So this is Lagos? Glad to be here!" He wasted no time at introducing himself and his country. He is also quick to announce that Nigeria is indeed very lucky to have "a man as great as Prophet T B Joshua as its citizen." But the excitement soon gave way to 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' as the bus began bumping into holes of different shapes and sizes, causing all passengers bodily discomfort and pain. The bus did not help matters either, as its shock absorbers seemed to have totally worn out. It wasn't difficult to guess where the groans were coming from though, as the Nigerians in the bus seemed to have gone past feeling or caring. At a point, around the Ori-Oke/Ile-Epo bus stops, the bus came into a huge traffic that practically left it in little or no movement for about 30 minutes, leaving everyone perspiring, until it veered into Ailegun Road, ostensibly to save time.
This road by the way is a wide bumpy and dusty road that is no better. It connects Ejigbo with the Isheri-Oshun Road that has been under construction for about six years and is often used as a detour by commercial bus drivers every time traffic gets really bad. Unfortunately, the bus soon ran into another gridlock as it approached the Jakande Estate axis, creating a worse situation than what obtained on the main road, with the drivers driving recklessly against traffic and every one of them trying desperately to outwit the other through hook and crook. By this time, the visitors from South Africa seemed to have given up worrying about the traffic, opting rather involuntarily to gape at the spectacle of the reckless drivers and the tussle to outwit each other.
On another occasion, The Nation sought to know the impression, of Palesa Lepeaku and Lerato Motha, two South African ladies who had also made the trip to Nigeria basically to be at the church and were lodging in one of the new hotels that have recently sprung up in the area. Both say they flew all the way to Nigeria to be at the church, having experienced the miraculous healing powers of Prophet T. B Joshua via the church's Emmanuel TV which beams worldwide via satellite. Palesa recalls how on one occasion while praying along with Prophet Joshua via her TV set, she experienced a miraculous cleansing she never thought possible. "I was watching the Emmanuel TV back in my room one day when the man of God suddenly started praying, saying 'anywhere you are watching this programme, if there is anything that you have eaten or drank from the table of the enemy, may it be flushed out in name Jesus.' I never believed that it could happen to me, but my husband, knowing what I was going through encouraged me to join the man of God in the prayer, which I did and said 'Amen'. Immediately, I felt a force hit me from the back with a heavy blow and I immediately began vomiting uncontrollably. The vomit continued even after my husband brought a five-litre bucket, until it got half full." (At this point she rummaged through her phone to show a picture of the vomit.)
Loving Nigeria
Palesa, therefore, strongly believes in the healing power of the church's founder, pledging that she will be coming back soon again. She is, however, worried about the terrible state of the roads leading to the area, wondering if that is the general state of Nigerian roads. She hasn't moved around town just yet, but she says her experience from the airport wasn't quite pleasant. "We spent two long hours from the airport to the church due to heavy traffic, and I was surprised to find so many potholes on the roads in the city. Back home in South Africa, you'll never find potholes on the roads in the city, except maybe in the remote areas. Aside that, I think Nigeria is a lovely place; the people are nice friendly people and I'm definitely coming back."
Palesa also thinks that Nigeria is fast emerging into a religious tourist country, and thinks the least its government can do is to upgrade its road facility. She recalled a report she recently read on the internet of how Nigeria is said to be fast catching up with traditional religious tourist destinations like Jerusalem, Rome and even Saudi-Arabia; with a huge potential of overtaking some of them in no distant future.
Like Palesa, Lerato Motha is a huge fan of Emmanuel TV, from where she first had a contact with the church and its founder. She used to watch the channel for 24 hours in her room back in Pretoria, where she works for the Department of Roads of Works. She's in Nigeria because she hungered to witness first-hand and experience the healings and miracles, deliverance and breakthroughs she had always seen via the television. "I came because I need deliverance. I believe that if one really wants to be a born-again Christian, she must first seek and get deliverance. The founder of the church, Prophet Joshua, is very popular back in South Africa and you will easily find people tuning to his TV channel to receive their miracles."
Lerato is, however, not so bothered about Nigerian roads, insisting that people are different. In her opinion, her home country might have turned out worse, were it not for the presence and effort of the whites, who have adopted the country as their home. She is of the opinion though that South Africans will never be able to drive on Nigerian roads, if what she has seen so far is typical of the country's driving culture.
Paschal, a Cameroonian, also lent his voice to the discussion. She thinks there isn't much difference between his country and Nigeria, because "aside the similarity in culture, we have huge traffic as well in Duala and Yaoundé." But she thinks that the Nigerian government needs to do better in the aspect of the roads, since it doesn't augur well for her image. Aside the roads, Pascal also has a bit of a problem with the restaurants, whose foods he thinks are either not tasty enough or burnt.
According to Maria Adamu, a staff at one of the new hotels in the area, visitors to the church range from Nigerians from the remotest part of the country, to Africans of virtually every national and beyond. She is, therefore, of the opinion that "the area should be given adequate facelift in terms of infrastructure and traffic management, so that foreigners who come around would not go back with negative or poorer opinion of our so-called giant of Africa stature. As it stands now, all the roads leading to Ikotun-Egbe area where the church is located are impassable- especially when it rains, leading to uncomfortable bumpy drives and endless hours in the traffic."
