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By Vera Wisdom-Bassey
Women at the Covenant Liberation Gospel Ministry in Ojo, Lagos, recently celebrated their annual convention. The grand finale was held in style and the women could not conceal their joy.
With the theme “Building a moral society,” the women, decked in colourful wrappers with green blouses and yellow headgear, said they could not but thank God despite the level of insecurity and hardship in Nigeria.
Activities at the three-day event included a workshop on making soaps, creas, pastries and tying of headgears, among others.
The essence of the skils programme, which was attended by many women, was that at the end of the day they should be able to make a living out of the training and assist financially in their homes.
The women presented a drama titled “Building a moral society.” It featured two families: one was a family with a wife that nagged her husband over his heavy drinking habit and his inability to provide food money while the second family was one that feared God and encouraged themselves in the Lord in the face of challenges of life. Both were with moral lessons.
The organisers presented certificates of participation to various churches that attended the programme.
Three women spoke on the theme. The first speaker, Pastor Ukaamaka Akang, called on women to greet their husbands first thing every morning when they wake up from sleep
“You cannot be beautifully dressed and can’t in the morning greet the one who keeps you at home. Give him the needed respect he deserve as the head of the home. The way you pamper your husband is very important,” she said.
Also, she called on the women to stop gambling and drinking alcohol in pubs: “These things are not morally good; the children are watching you. Some women are given money for upkeep, they use it to play ‘Baba-Ijebu’ or some go to the extend of begging for money to play it. This is totally wrong.”
Also, Evang. Amaka Nnenkwo called on women to bring good seeds to society and advised them to stop planting seeds of discord. She said: “Show love and make yourself available for righteousness, and it will exalt you. Sow good seeds in the lives of your children for a better tomorrow.”
She admonished the women to know that the family is the first society and must be built with virtues for the benefit of all.
The third speaker, Pastor G.N. Echefu, listed many things that were cherished as values when they were growing up, but regretted that they are old-fashioned today.
“What is happening to our Christian values, why are there disfunctional families these days? We allow the world to defeat us. Most women, homes, churches have lost their values with which they were known,” she said.
She called on the women to re-introduce these values to their children for a better society.
She stated that the way people act these days in society shows the kind of families they come from.
On her part, Pastor Chioma Maduka expressed gratitude to God for guiding the women to achieve 70 per cent of their aims during the convention. She taught the women how to make soap and other crafts on the first and second days of the programme.
As the nation is passing through economical crisis, she highlighted that the skills the women acquired would help them assist their husbands and to keep their homes in one way or the other.
She called on the women also to fear God, have good conscience and continue to love one another. She admonished them to engage in something meaningful and never lose hope, as something good would come out of whatsoever they might engage in.
The founder of the church, Bishop Ernest Maduka, defined moral as righteousness and anything that is good. According to him, it stands for lawfulness, norms and standard, among others.
He, therefore, joined other speakers to urge the women to exalt the values that families were known for in the days of yore. He lamented that nobody cares anymore, including those in the corridors of power.
He charged public office holders to always do the right thing, saying they are supposed to be carriers of morals.
