By Gilbert Ekezie
Members of the Catholic Church, like others, have been in the fore front of ensuring and promoting sound leadership, both within and outside the church.
As part of her efforts to ensure that people with sound mind and knowledge are put to lead at the various aspects of leadership, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria (CCRN), Satellite Deanery of Catholic Achdiocese of Lagos recently organised a One-day training at the Deanery level titled; ‘Promoting Sound Leadership Through Interaction.’ Among the key areas deliberated on include; How the CCRN service team work in harmony with the church, how to guide members to solidly believe in the spiritually of the Catholic Church and CCRN, how to balance spirituality, business and family life as a leader and how leaders can forgive one another.
President of the Satellite Deanary, Mr Cyril Oghaego thanked God for the Calibre of personalities present, including Clergy, Layfaithful, various media organizations from far and near.
He described leadership as an act of leading and managing people towards discovering and fulfilling their destinies by influencing them positively.
Oghaego noted that in leadership, either someone is solving a problem, providing solution or creating a problem.
He assured that, nobody who is willing to take advantage of the training , will leave the place without an encounter, in order to become more effective in their leadership capacity, as the role and impact of leadership in the pursuit of life, both sacred and secular, has a lot to do with how productive and viable a nation and Organization are.
He said promoting sound leadership through interaction is targeted at achieving better goals and exposing the CCRN service team to the rudiments of leadership at levels.
Dean of Satellite Deanery of CCRN, Rev. Fr. Francis Ike said the inspiration behind the the programme is as a result of the leadership challenges being witnessed in the country.
He said in order to contribute to improve the leadership level, the Catholic, through the Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria, decided to organise the training.
That, he said, was part of the church and state relationship, as it would give some of those who may get involved in leadership positions, especially politics, the opportunity to do better. “The leadership training is very important, as it will help to prepare those who have interest in politics. This time around, the Church is working to push out people who are religiously trained into politics, having understood the meaning of leadership, as Jesus himself, has shown us.
“So, the CCRN, Satellite Deanery felt we should have the interactive session to know what is the cost of leadership and level of cooperation of leaders. I think, if we begin the n our homes and the church, it will help permeate into the society, because the church is within the society.”
Ike , who is also the Parish Priest of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Ojo Alaba, Lagos explained that the leadership training would provide a better understanding for future leaders, especially now that the leadership of the country is wobbling. “The leadership at the national level seems to have no direction. And, even if they have the direction, where is the will to propel the dreams and aspirations of those that are being led? That is why the session is important.
“I have always said it that it is not easy to be a leader. If you are called to be one, it should be a responsibility, but a challenge because you be able to make the sacrifice and have the will power. It is not about intellectual knowledge, but the will power.”
The Priest noted that leadership should be a selfless activity, and that every leader must be open to criticism, ready to listen to the calls and cries of the people and ensure that their lives and properties are protected. “Aside that, a leader should also be able to retract whatever decision he has taken, if he eventually discovers that it is not working out for the interest of the people.”
He called on leadership of Nigeria to once again find out why they are into such positions, by so doing, they will try to improve. “It is only when our leaders understand that they are there to serve the people, and not for their personal gratifications, that we will begin to get improvement in leadership.”
The Chaplain of CCRN, Satellite Deanery, Rev. Fr. Anthony Okeke stated that the leadership training which was organised mainly for the service team of the CCRN of the Deanery, was aimed at educating and strengthening them more to enhance their performances in service to God and humanity.
He said if there is good and sound leadership in every facet, it will translate to good followership too. “So, we are here to promote sound leadership among the CCRN members to do things in the right way, and go out to the large community to educate others.
The training as you can see, is not only to operate in the church, but also at business environment, families, communities, associations and in partisan politics.”
Okeke who is also the Parish Priest of Holy Spirit Catholic Church, Onireke, Ojo, Lagos hinted that the training became necessary since the church encourages her members to go into partisan politics. “We can no longer leave politics for outsiders alone to do, thinking that it is a bad game. If we have good people in politics, I think they will make things happen.”