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By Enyeribe Ejiogu
Dr. Olukayode Segun Adeyanju is a renowned dentist with more than 30 years of practice experience and has been instrumental in creating awareness about oral care in Nigeria. Dr Adeyanju, director of Divine Dental Home, graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University with a degree in Dentistry in 1990 and later gained management training in the US to enhance his skills in running a dental practice.
He is a former columnist on oral care for the Sun Newspaper, where he educated Nigerians about oral care. While emphasising the importance of regular oral check-ups, he has consistently urged the government to include dental care in the primary healthcare programme of the country. Adeyanju is also the General Overseer of Grace Assembly Christian Church, through which he undertakes evangelistic crusades. Divine Dental Home has grown to become a leading dental care provider in Nigeria with multiple locations in Lagos. Adeyanju is a highly regarded and trusted dentist in Nigeria, who is very passionate about promoting good oral healthcare.
In this interview, he talks about the impact of unrighteousness and corruption on the nation and proffers solution.
Seeing the profligacy exhibited by people in governance, and the hardship in the country, some Christians are beginning to think that God has forsaken Nigeria. How do you feel about this?
First, God has not forsaken the country. God is ever righteous and ever just. Nigeria surely is a covenant nation in the African continent. But what we are suffering now is because we are forsaking the Lord, the King of Glory. We are forsaking His laws. We are forsaking his commandment. So, it’s the responsibility of the Church, the only institution he put in place in the earth, to show forth His marvelous light so the world can see. Therefore, if we have corruption, perversion of justice, suppression and oppression of the voice of the common man; if we have perennial poverty, injustice and wickedness enthroned in Nigeria, what it means is that the light is not shining and all Christians, including myself, should bear responsibility for it. So that’s why the little voice that is speaking, just like John the Baptist in the wilderness, I’m saying, let our light shine. If you stop taking bribe, stop perverting justice, if the policeman stops perverting justice, if the man on the street that’s supposed to control traffic stops doing what is wrong, if the teacher stops aiding examination malpractice, if we stop corruption, then our light will shine. But the Lord says we have many buildings, we call them sanctuary, but we don’t have churches in Nigeria. That’s what the Spirit of the Lord said. God has not forsaken Nigeria, but I pray that the Lord will awaken our spirits and we do His will. God said we should seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.
Through Grace Assembly Christian Church, and by the God’s infinite grace and mercy, I have been spreading this gospel for righteousness to cover our nation. That was the focus the celebration of the 6th anniversary/convention of the ministry. The theme was taken from John chapter 1 verse 14, and the word was made flesh. We had several teachings that spanned from abundant living with Christ Jesus, to build up families, strengthen the bond of love between spouses to truly become one. There were teachings on how Christians can be shining examples in Nigeria, outside the blemish of the Nigeria stigma as a corrupt nation. So as a Pentecostal mission, our focus and mission is to raise leadership in Nigeria, who will be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Salt is a preservative. Light is just the opposite of darkness. And wherever there is darkness, there is emptiness, chaos and corruption.
Some Pentecostal have posted YouTube videos encouraging people to use any means, including acquiring licenced guns, to defend themselves against attacks by armed terrorists. What is your view?
Our nation has a President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. So, then if we say everybody should carry a gun, then there is a big failure on the part of the people in governance. It’s just like a medical person trying to treat the symptom of an ailment and ignoring root cause of the problem. You have to define the root cause. If you don’t treat the root cause, but treat the symptoms and the complications without dealing with the causes, then you are just cutting the branches of the tree but the roots are deep-seated. The tree will grow sprouts and survive. And that would be a sheer waste of time.
Nigerian situation and the terrorism being witnessed is the result of the imbalance in the nation. The point is that there is darkness. The Bible said that in the beginning there was darkness, but God commanded light to light to appear. Immediately there was light, and the emptiness and chaos disappeared.
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So, what is happening in Nigeria now is that there is chaos and all kinds of evils. The simple for it is that there is no light. If there is enough light enforcement of law and order), anybody that commits a crime will be picked up. Look at Israel and Gaza – some people committed did a heinous thing, and the nation of Israel went in and has been fishing them out. The action taken by Israel has changed the game in that part of the world.
For us acquiring guns is not the solution. The simple solution to Nigerian’s problem is righteousness, starting from the Three Arms Zone. If righteousness is in the three arms of government, darkness will disappear. Terrorism will disappear. Insecurity will disappear. We have huge budgets for defence and security. We have various military commands. We have armaments and military drones to fight the darkness. Are we using to fight the darkness? We will continue that the light of the gospel will shine on the Three Arms of Zone and the people who occupy the offices in governance.
Jesus went about doing good things. In what concrete ways can the church do things that directly impact people beyond giving out noodles and other palliatives?
The business of Jesus has not changed, it’s just very simple. He the poor, healed the sick, but the bottom line of why Christ came is to make us a different person. God gave man a living soul. A soul is somebody that learns using the will, intellect and the emotions to react to the environment. The purpose of the church is to impact the world with the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ – that is the primary responsibility of the church, it is not sharing palliatives. Of course in preaching the gospel, the church will seek to meet the physical needs of the people such as sharing palliatives and doing other kinds of good works within the community. The church will do these works because the church must show kindness and compassion. I have a ministry through which I touch the lives of people, but the real responsibility of the church is to preach salvation and get people to be born again.
More than 30 years ago, you resigned from General Hospital Lagos because of the sharing of dental chairs. Today, what is the picture of oral care in Nigeria?
Actually I worked at General Hospital Lagos (very close to Island Maternity, which some people used to affectionately refer to as baby factory because of the large number who there to deliver) in 1991 to the end of 1992. I did my housemanship there. I also served there for the national youth service. Then at the start of 1993, I resigned because I was not comfortable the state of the hospital at the time. I was not inspired as a young man with the environment. You had a situation where three dental doctors were sharing the same dental chair in turns to treat the patient. As at today, what is the picture of oralcare in the public hospital facilities? The answer to that is definitely not encouraging. What is the situation in Lagos? What is the situation in Nigeria? The hospital is just a fragment of the situation at large. There has been no real change to the situation. The situation is systemic. The fact is that oral care delivery is not in isolation, it’s systemic. Of course, in government there are budgets, there are units. Of course, you wonder how much do the people in governance budget for health. I think we should look at it in holistic manner. We should look at Nigeria as a whole, as a nation. We pray that the righteousness of the gospel will shine in this nation. It’s simple, if light shines, everyone benefits from light. Light is not religion-based, light is not tribal-based; light is light. If light shines, you are under light, you benefit just like water. Wherever you are, you need water, you get water.
It still refers to Christian leadership. So, if there is righteousness in Nigeria, everything will work. Budgetary provisions will be used to fund projects that will benefit the people. It won’t be a case where people go into governance as senator, minister, governor or president, and they become fabulously wealthy, richer than the state, they acquire and boldly the different types of Roll Royce the they have in their garage, with air-conditioning units installed in the garage to keep the vehicles cool, powered by diesel generators bought with money stolen from the public treasury. May the Lord help us make this nation a truly developing nation. We pray that through righteousness things will get better. We pray that the Lord will open our light and the light will shine. Jesus said, may your light shine. So if we have more light, then things will begin to work. I pray that our light may not go totally dim in this nation.
What needs to be done to salvage the situation and change the narrative in oral care delivery in Nigeria?
People in governance should stop stealing public money. And they can only stop when righteousness is enthroned in the nation. When there is righteousness, you won’t lie, kill, kick a woman out of her marital home or do anything illegal, oppress the weak, afflict the innocent, pervert justice. Righteousness is just like water. It doesn’t really need much interpretation. It’s very plain and simple. The church must focus on raising leadership who are conscious that the king of glory Himself, Jesus Christ, is coming soon.
If you were privileged to address a gathering of Tony Elumelu, Aliko Dangote, BUA Group chairman, Zenith Bank MD, Fidelity Bank MD, Obi Cubana and other multi-billionnaires, what would you tell them about dental care and healthcare delivery in general?
If I’m privileged to meet and talk to all the big names you have mentioned, I’ll just tell them that the true wealth is anyone that is rich in good things. Concerning our healthcare and dental care as a nation, what I will tell them is that they should increase their influence in government, so that righteousness takes over our nation. They should use their access to people in government to plead for the welfare and good healthcare funding for the people. They should use their wealth of influence to make sure that there is righteousness in the Executive arm, there is righteousness in the legislative arm, and righteousness in the judiciary. So once these three arms are doing the right thing, then there will be better healthcare, there will be better roads, there will be better schools, and there will be better Nigeria.
The true wealth is not in the paper, which is now also paperless and just the digital figure that is filled. The true wealth is not in your treasure in heaven where no moth will make it corrupt, where it will not be stolen, or put your treasure in heaven where you will meet it there.
