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THE FATE OF THE NATION AND THE WORLD A VALEDICTORY WORLD PRESS CONFERENCE BY APOSTLE PETER ODOEMENA THE SON OF MAN

“THE FATE OF THE NATION AND THE WORLD” (THE SON OF MAN’S VALEDICTORY WORLD PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE FATE OF THE NATION AND THE WORLD) Granted on the occasion of Handover, Home-coming and Certificate Presentation of Dignity Consult, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus on Saturday, 30th May, 2015 at Gold Value Hotel, Enugu, Nigeria. By Apostle Peter Odoemena The Son of Man (THE EASTERN STAR)

EXCERPTS OF THE INTERVIEW WITH THE SON OF MAN

FIRST SESSION WITH THE MEDIA

(Namely; Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN; Ray Power Radio Network Services; African Independent Television, AIT; The Nation Newspapers)

FIRST SESSION WITH THE MEDIA

THE SON OF MAN: This is my personal decision born out of good conscience. I am withdrawing from the general public, not only with the Consult but with many other associations. I want to rest.

PRESS: Ok, Having said so, can you please throw more light on today’s occasion. What actually is happening?
THE SON OF MAN: Truly speaking today’s occasion has been a very laudable program we started planning since last year, and within that period of planning we have embarked on series of training seminars, we have imparted with so many courses, so many ICT (Information and Communications Technology) courses we organized for both the students and outsiders. These are certificate courses that lasted for many months and those who were successful were issued with certificates by the Consult here.
So, today, one, we are having new inductees. Two, the final year students who are our members are passing out. We want to say farewell to them. Not that they are going to dissociate from the Consult. No! The Alumni of the Consult are coming from various states. Most of them have been employed. Some are self-employed. They were all invited.
Lastly, if the school will approve of our plans, they have been pleading for it and now we have decided to consent to their plea. We wish to hand it over to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka completely so that it would operate like Yabatech Consult and other Consults in other federal universities, whereby we will be training manpower, not only from among us, but even for various organizations and the federal government in particular. I am equally a member of Yabatech Consult, but I am withdrawing from all of them from today.
PRESS: Sir, what qualifies a student for membership in Dignity Consult?
THE SON OF MAN: Fine! The qualification is obvious. Number 1, that person must be an undergraduate of UNN, for now. I am talking about Dignity Consult, UNN. We do not have any other branch in any of the affiliated universities. And that is exactly what we have been discussing. Maybe by the next academic session, the Lord willing, a new administration will carry it to Nwafor Orizu and to Alvan Ikoku and to some other universities. That is our plan.
Now, the qualification is that the person must be an undergraduate of this school, University of Nigeria, and also in the faculty of Business Administration. This is very much compulsory. That did not stop us from enlisting people from outside who may show keen interest in what we are doing.
PRESS: So are there any follow-ups that the Consult does after graduation? If there is, please tell us about it.
THE SON OF MAN: The follow-ups may be determined by the circumstances prevailing around the students at any given time. You know, the Consult, for now, is being manned by students alone, with the students’ adviser, Dr Onodugo presiding. It is determined by the circumstances prevailing. So where the time warrants that, they would continue, but where there is no time, they lay more emphasis on their academic pursuit, which you know is the most important thing.
PRESS: Is it right then to say that you are the sole financier of Dignity Consult?
THE SON OF MAN: God forbid! We have too many financiers. Every member is a financier. We have too many outsiders, our friends and well-wishers. We have so many patrons also that are helping us. So it is a collective success.
PRESS: Thank you.
THE SON OF MAN: Thank you sir.

THE SON OF MAN’S BRIEF IGBO SESSION WITH FRCN COAL CITY FM

BRIEF IGBO SESSION

WITH FRCN COAL CITY FM

PRESS: Sir please in Igbo, just briefly, a summary. You do not need to go into the whole details. Just summarize what you have said, starting from what the organization is all about. What is this organization all about? What was the basis of establishing the organization (Dignity Consult)?

THE SON OF MAN: It was established for students of the university, the University of Nigeria here who are studying to become independent business managers, to become leaders and captains of industry in their various disciplines and in their various communities.
It is for the students who are studying business administration, business management, accountancy, banking and finance. This is the platform where we impart the needed leadership training to them so that they can go beyond just learning and only knowing the theory to having the real practical experience.
We do this by sending them for trainings and courses in different organizations where they will see and practice the theoretical content of their university training. This we do to ensure that they are relevant and effective after graduation to any employer and even to themselves in the practice of what they have studied in the university, so that they are not stranded whenever they are called upon to showcase that which they have studied in the university. This is our prime objective.
Our aim is that all our graduate members from the University of Nigeria will not fidget or panic wherever they are employed and the employer will also know that the gradate had been trained in a premium university. This is our aim.
PRESS: Sir from what you have said now, it is like you are also trying to help the country in tackling the problem of graduates that are not able to…
THE SON OF MAN: (cuts in) Graduate unemployment so to say now. Fine! This has been the core feature of every program we have ever conducted here and I have always featured prominently. I emphasize that the best employment is self-employment and there is no way somebody can be employed without being empowered with all the rudiments.
One: The person must have the skill which is the knowledge. Two: The person must be financed. These are very very compulsory because if we do not train that person, financing will be useless. So when we train, financing becomes very easy because the cheapest resource for any establishment remains capital. It can be sourced very easily but it is not easy to source skill.
It is not all that parade with university certificates that have the skill. Like I am in the industrial sector. This is the time all these students are posted to us under SIWES (Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme). We are testing them. We have discovered that a good number of them have paper knowledge, but the practical side, they do not have.
PRESS: Advice to the country now.
THE SON OF MAN: My advice to the country is that they should stop producing graduates that are not relevant to the needs of our economy. This is the basis of unemployment. There are too many of them that are being churned out of the universities, but what the universities have produced are not relevant to the economy. I hope I am making sense.
PRESS: Yes, you are!
THE SON OF MAN: Experience has shown that over the years. They should restructure their curriculum, restructure their programs to suit the needs of this nation otherwise, they will keep on producing literary engineers, literary doctors. Yes! I do not owe them any apology because what we have today as engineers and doctors are half-baked. They have just the paper knowledge.
How many teaching hospitals have we properly equipped? How many professionals are employed with salaries commensurate with their services? They are no longer there. That is why Nigeria is suffering from brain drain.
The brains are no longer with us. Some that are with us have refused to work for the public. And you do not need to blame any of them. You do not need to blame any of them. Nigeria should be blamed. So my advice is that they should try to restructure.
PRESS: Ok. We have a new administration, so it will happen.
THE SON OF MAN: New! If you were here in 2011, I think that was the area the press bombarded Me with questions. They heard My previous comments over the radio and things like that. I told them the beginning and ending of Jonathan’s administration. I told them how he will be disgraced out of Aso Rock, for he lacked the capacity, his doctorate degree notwithstanding.
For the first time, a Ph.D holder is privileged to rule this country and yet, he messed everything up, leaving the economy shattered. Our money is rubbish.
There, I gave them the five indices of a failed nation. Yes, a failed nation! That time the reigning crime was kidnapping. I told them clearly to expect suicide bombing. I gave them reasons for insurgence, because to control the youth restiveness, you MUST empower them. You MUST give them, not only qualitative education, you MUST give them skills. You MUST help them to get established. Then, you check their restiveness.
Even in every family, if you do not train the youth in your family, definitely, the wind of life MUST snatch them away. You know what the wind of life is? SELF MATERIALISM. SELF AGGRANDIZEMENT, which promotes a high propensity of criminality.
Why are we suffering from corruption? All these big names that inundated our political terrain, they are men and women of very high criminal propensities.
Now, President Buhari has come. Do not forget the fact that Mohammed Buhari as the Head of State was with us. I am not a politician. I do not identify with any political party. I have never voted for any individual and I have never failed to collect My voter’s card.
I have My reasons, for there has never been even one that is worthy of My confidence. So, I cannot be a part of voting in a corrupt individual into a corrupt system.
Now, when Buhari was the Head of State and Commander-In-Chief, he had few people to control, he had the veto power to veto policies and every other thing. We saw what he did. Number one, was decree number 2. Number two: Decree number 4.
If not for Dr Ernest Shonekan, who within the three months of his operation as the President, nullified the two decrees when he later came to power when Major General Ibrahim Babangida stepped aside, I wonder what Nigeria would have looked like.
Now, within the two years Buhari was given to spearhead the affairs of this nation by the decree as a military Head of State, a dictator, a despotic leader, he had the authority to effect a change without conferring with anybody called House of Representatives or National Assembly, but what did he do within the two years?
Now, he has come again. The only thing we can remember is War Against Indiscipline (WAI), but how long did it last? Now he has come as a civilian. Idiagbon is no longer there. Osinbajo is now there. Thank you very much.
Let nobody ever expect a miracle. Let nobody expect a situation better than what we are coming out from. We know where we are coming from. We know where we are heading to.
Remember I told you that before Jonathan will leave that Aso Rock, petrol must be sold at the rate of two hundred naira (N200) per litre. Did I say it? (The Brethren concurred with an emphatic Yes Sir!).
That was in 2011 and I said also that this dwindling economy will get worse and that the exchange rate will be such that cannot be restored, for this man must surely, through the advice of a wicked Finance Minister, devalue our currency beyond restorable height.
Look at the exchange rate today. Look at our economy. I equally made a statement that whatever that was left in the possession of arms and ammunition, the monopoly must completely be removed, for we will see more uniformed people, armour-bearers on the scene. We will also see unregimented armour-bearers.
This is because the moment the state has lost the monopoly of the possession of arms and ammunition, crime must surely rise to an uncontrollable height.
Now, who will disarm them? This man that is coming to check corruption, remember he was the chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) under the late Abacha. Bear it in mind and we know the scandal which later resulted to truth, which led to bribery.
Now forget about that one. Let us face the stark realities. He was a Major General. I know he controlled Bulumkuttu riot. That was that time at Maiduguri. That was Maitatsine (an Islamic Religious Sect). What we are now suffering from is greater than Maitatsine. What we are suffering from goes beyond religion. It goes beyond politics.
We are suffering from one thing which all of you know. They want us to revert to status quo ante. They want to bring up the agreement that was duly signed before the committee of nations in 1960, endorsed by Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe of blessed memory and Tafawa Balewa which stipulated inter alia, “That the Northern majority MUST rule the Southern minority. That any attempt to wrestle power out of the North MUST create chaos in this nation and it MUST be avoided.”
You better know the truth about this matter. Another problem is this. Nigerian as a nation is a member of AU (African Union). Nigeria is a member of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States). We have our representatives.
The same way, do not forget the fact that during the reign of Major General Badamasi Ibrahim Babangida as the Head Of State, Nigeria became a member of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), featured as number 8. We have our permanent representative there even as I am talking to you now.
That was one of the conditions given to him by IMF (International Monetary Fund) so as to obtain loan. When he fulfilled all the conditions, IMF failed to disburse the loan.
Now, as a member of the OIC or whatever you may call it, you are all intelligent, you are all educated, how can you subscribe to an organization, become a member, you continue to pay your dues and things like that, you have a permanent representative in that organization, and you deny that your nation does not belong to it.
No-matter how secular you think Nigeria is, believe it if you can, the struggle is to make sure we all accept that Nigeria is an Islamic nation. And until this is done, there is going to be what happened in Sudan, Northern Sudan and Southern Sudan, yet that will not solve the problem.
Remember I told everybody and I said, “If Sudan will succeed, the next will be Nigeria. Southern Sudan is just like politics in chaos. That there will never be a time Northern Sudan will allow Southern Sudan to go unpunished. There MUST be war in Southern Sudan. Darfur MUST surely suffer.”
Today, in spite of the independence, what is happening in Southern Sudan? Check what the attempt to control it in Mali is causing. It is the same in Libya, in Egypt. People thought that the President of Egypt was responsible for their problem. They ousted him. What is happening? Check all of them.
The man, Ghaddafi of Libya. I told you, they thought the man was the problem of Libya. I told you that when he will leave the scene, Libya will find out that this man was not their problem.
The Messiah for Nigeria is not yet come. Do not expect a sudden change. Do not ever go to bed and begin to think that the insurgency is coming to a halt, rather it is going to assume another shape and another dimension: Another shape and another dimension. This administration MUST create room for Islamic Jihadists to identify even with their counterparts in Nigeria, which of course you know.
You remember that day, I said that there are big guns behind this insurgence and that was the time they were doing kidnapping, until big guns were arrested in Abia, in Enugu here, in Imo, in Delta. Nigerians shivered. When this matter started, I said there are big guns.
Watch! In no distant future, these people would be equipped with rocket launchers. They MUST be equipped with all sorts of ammunition including submachine guns (SMG). They will have equipments that will be enough to execute a civil war. And these equipment will not come from the sky. They MUST cross the borders and no poor man can do that.
It is just like kidnapping. How can somebody finance kidnapping if the person is not a multibillionaire? How can somebody use Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) that is sold for N9.5 million to commit suicide? Give him the N9.5 million, poverty will stop all the days of his life.
But these people will churn them out in thousands all for suicide bombing and you want to tell me that Apostle Peter Odoemena, is the One that is importing the helicopters they are using in feeding the Chibok girls?
Ok. A retired General said, “Stop looking for the Chibok girls on the surface. They are underground. They are in the bunkers.” How did he manage to know?
Gentlemen and the ladies of the Press, I have a lot to say, but not now. That is why I want to go home so that the press will be meeting Me in My little apartment of no regret.
PRESS: Sir, I think that is what we will do. You will give us your number, so that we can call you.
THE SON OF MAN: I will give you because in the next one hour I will be on my way home. I am APOSTLE PETER ODOEMENA, THE SON OF MAN, THE SMOKING FIREWOOD. THANK YOU.

THE SON OF MAN’S IMPROMPTU LECTURE PRECEDING THE DIGNITY CONSULT CERTIFICATE PRESENTATION

THE IMPROMPTU LECTURE PRECEDING THE DIGNITY CONSULT CERTIFICATE PRESENTATION

I say, “To God be the glory.” Many know Me very well. Many do not know Me but from today, you have known Me. Truly speaking, I have the feeling of fulfillment to be here today.

Since 2011, I stopped featuring prominently during inductions, yet I remained very much supportive to the Consult. I am very very grateful to identify with this Consult from 2010 till today and there are no regrets whatsoever, and I wish that the incoming administration will aim at performing better than the one we will be saying bye-bye to.
First and foremost, it is worthy of record that today being 30th May, 2015, we are saying bye-bye to the former administration of Dignity Consult and welcome to the new administration at a time the whole Nigeria, the whole world and Africa are equally saying bye-bye to President Goodluck’s administration and PDP in the country and welcome to President Buhari’s administration. It is a memorable occasion indeed.
Dignity Consult has performed creditably well over the years, growing from strength to strength. My prayer is that you remain dignified. Do not lower down the standard. To be a member of this Consult is a blessing and not a curse, and I wish it will remain a blessing.
My first two daughters graduated from this Consult and they are happily married. They are happily employed and they are faring very well because of the discipline and the professional training they received from this Consult and I believe you would not be left out. I have come into contact with a good number of our alumni here and there. Some in Abuja, some in Lagos, some in Port Harcourt.
Notable amongst them is our friend and our brother Uche who is of course now an Assistant Director with Ethelson Group in Lagos. He is faring very well. He is the brain behind the success of that conglomerate. I thank God that no member has ever misrepresented this Consult after passing out from here.
That notwithstanding, I just want to give you few words for there is no way I can sit down without encouraging you. Do not loose fate because of the nature of Nigerian economy. It is posing a great challenge not only to our graduates, but to everybody.
The most intricate problem perplexing this country has remained graduate unemployment. There has never been any administration that came into existence without the promise of alleviating the problem, but at the end of the day, we see basically nothing.
Another one came in yesterday. The three core agendas are SECURITY, UNEMPLOYMENT and CORRUPTION. Fine! That is what they said they will tackle. If they will do it, praise God. There has never been any administration that never promised to tackle these things.
Then if I should ask a question I will say, “SIR, HOW DO YOU INTEND TO TACKLE THESE PROBLEMS. IS IT BY POLICY OR ITS IMPLEMENTATION?”
I was privileged yesterday to hold discussions with a good number of corps members (youth corpers) who came to me to seek advice concerning their places of primary assignment, especially those that were posted to the Northern states, both males and females.
So, please, I wish to say that before anybody can attempt to solve any economic problem, number one step is, investigate the cause of that problem. Find out whether the problem is as a result of bad policy or poor implementation of the policy.
A policy can be good, laudable, but the implementation may be faulty. At the same time, a policy may be faulty and the implementation cannot make it right because there is no amount of energy that is dissipated that will ever yield dividend in the implementation as long as the policy is wrong.
Thus, we will know whether they are coming to attack the problem by policy. We will also know the materials they intend using for the execution.
As for me, I am talking prophetically from My office. I am seeing a picture that is horrible, a picture that is indescribable. Just hold it there.
I am talking to you as youth so that you take your academic pursuit seriously and take the training you received from the Consult very seriously.
Let nobody ever fool you into believing that a miracle will create employment for Nigerian graduates tomorrow because there is no year that Nigeria does not produce over 1.5 million graduates, starting from the Colleges of Education to Polytechnics and Universities. Take note of that.
Now, I will land somewhere. THE BEST FORM OF EMPLOYMENT IS SELF EMPLOYMENT NO MATTER THE WAY YOU LOOK AT IT. If I employ you in my organization, it is just for you to get a little money to get yourself established.
If I employ you, though you may be my worker, but I have enslaved you. I have limited your vision. I have limited your capabilities, your potentialities. I have limited all of them.
Because I have employed you for a pay, your remuneration will determine the type of food you will eat, the type of accommodation you will leave in, the type of cloth you will put on, whether you like it or not, for once you live a life higher than your income, automatically, you know what will follow. When one is living a life higher that his or her income, automatically the person is broke and it leads to too many vices.
Fine! If I employ you, you lose your independence immediately. You are no longer independent. I am here because I am independent. There was a time I was finding it difficult to attend to certain occasions that needed My presence, because My freedom had a limit, for I was working for somebody.
But a time came when I said, “Enough is enough.” I decided to try Myself and I succeeded in proving that I have potentialities that had not yet been tapped. No matter how bleak the future may look, there are still some areas that are yet to be explored and that is why, here in Dignity Consult, we prepare you to face the challenges of your own day by exploring those areas that are yet to be explored
Somebody may ask, “Ah! ah! Sir, what do you mean? Could there be any area of life in our economy that has not been explored by somebody?” At any given time I say, “Too many still abound.” I will give you the tips, then you will catch me somewhere.
Number one step you will take is this. The moment you leave this place and may be pass out of your National Youth Service, and then you wish to join all of us. The number one step you will take is to define who you are. Who are you?
A time came when Jesus Christ considered the feelings of his followers concerning him. He came up with that question. Who do people say I am? And who do you say I am?
Often times, you are not what people think you are and nobody knows who you are more than yourself. The same way, there is nobody that is your enemy but you. Nobody can constitute an obstacle for you when you define who you are, define where you are coming from and where you are going to.
Let the focus be there. Be committed. Be determined. You cannot stop midway unless you as an individual constitute your own self obstacle. Define who you are and where you are going to. It is very very essential. Whatever you are by your own honest assessment will challenge you immediately. You will begin to think how you will add value to life.
There is no way you can evolve a way of adding value to life without wealth being attracted. But the problem we are having with our youth is that they are over-ambitious to make money. Once you count on money, you will never be satisfied all the days of your life. The worth of a man is not in his bank account but in his brain.
Think of what you will do to improve on the lots of humanity; Something that will add value. There is no form of criminality that can add value to mankind. Is there any? And there is no circumstance anybody can find himself or herself that can be admitted as an excuse for criminality. In other words, there is no reasonable excuse for criminality. At the same time, criminality is a mark of failure.
I do not believe in talking to you orally. I believe in giving you handouts in the form of books for posterity. Should you pass out here or you are still in school, take My number. Call Me by day or by night. Ask Me questions and I will be there to serve you. My number is 08037845410. Thank you.

THE SON OF MAN’S SECOND SESSION WITH THE MEDIA

(Vanguard Newspapers)

SECOND SESSION WITH THE MEDIA

(Vanguard Newspapers)

PRESS: You said that successive governments have failed in getting the youth, especially these graduate youth, to be meaningfully employed. What position would you want this administration to take as regards this youth unemployment?

THE SON OF MAN: Thank you very much sir. This has been the question that has been agitating my mind all along with all successive governments starting from the local government.
Number 1 step is Local Government autonomy. There should be autonomy in everything as per local government and states. Then, Federal government should not assume 100% responsibility of youth employment. If the local governments are granted autonomy fully, financial autonomy, and they are permitted to take care of their teaming youth from their local governments, definitely, there would not be pressure at the centre.
The state also will employ. Then whatever that is left will be spread according to the geographical spread of recruitment in the federal civil service. But where the local government is there, redundant, crippled because of lack of financing and those that are there already cannot convert the little they have to meaningful uses.
Take for example now. If Apostle Peter Odoemena can be given just one month allocation meant for any local government, it is enough to build an establishment, an industry, a manufacturing venture that is capable of taking not less than 200 youth, take good care of them, pay them very well.
So, Nigeria can do it. This money they are carting away, remember other countries are making use of that money. All these foreign bank accounts they are maintaining, those countries are using those monies stacked there by Nigerians to create jobs for their own people, to enhance their own economy, while we are suffering here.
So the federal, state and local governments must be proactive. That we are not experiencing the type of insurgence that is being experienced in the North here in the Southeast, though we are trying our best to engage the restive youth in vigilante services, in the Civil Defence and all those, it is not the remedy yet.
It is not the remedy, because when you begin to empower unregimented youth, to disarm them becomes difficult. And when we are talking about engaging the youth in meaningful employment, federal government is still embarking on retrenchment in the name of down-sizing.
The Army recently retrenched four hundred and seventy something soldiers from Jos and Ibadan because of the Boko Haram problem, when they refused to go to their postings to fight Boko Haram.
Productive youth that received no other training or occupation than how to kill, vandalize and loot, are dismissed from their jobs. What do you think those people will be doing out there? There is no other thing they will be doing except that which they know. There is no way their communities will not be terrorized.
There is another thing I want to say there. Nigeria has not even recognized the wide gap between the rich and the poor. If they cannot evolve policies that will bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, talking about curbing insurgence is waste of time.
The private sector is the only area that is giving our youth few jobs, yet the private sector is suffering terribly. I am in the private sector. All our industrial estates are now industrial mortuaries because government is not helping us in any way.
The power sector has collapsed. There is no power. No energy to power the industries. All of them are operating below installed capacities. But what is amazing? At the end of the day, power holding will bring huge bills for services that were not rendered in the name estimate electricity bills. Why estimating when we buy petrol, we buy diesel to power the plants.
Of course you know that there is no cheaper alternative to the supply from Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). After expending the little that we have realized in generating power, the same Power Holding will shamelessly come with huge bills to collect money for services not rendered. The privatization has not helped it one bit rather it has worsened it. That is why we are where we are today.
So, President Buhari is going to inherit crisis. Already he has inherited insecurity. He has inherited fuel crisis. He has also inherited power crisis. He has inherited mass unemployment. So he is taking off on a very rough ground. Tell me the miracle he will perform?
PRESS: Thank you sir. I am Ok.
THE SON OF MAN: Are you Ok?
PRESS: Yes.
THE SON OF MAN: Thank you sir.