Interview

Remaking Nigeria: Seun Kuti’s Revolutionary Ideas

Published

3 years ago

December 9, 2021

NewTimes

Dele Jegede In Conversation With Prince Yemisi Shyllon

THE TOYIN FALOLA INTERVIEWS

A Conversation With Seun Kuti Part 2

Toyin Falola

Nationhood is a political end reached through a series of mixed experiences that include sacrifices, dedication, determination, toils, and relentless efforts by those who envision it, and they pass this to the succeeding generations until they attain a respected level of community identity. All these are the basic requirements necessary to be satisfied in the evolutionary process of every political entity so that their identity, attitudes, and behaviour would be guided by the various experiences they have accrued in their process of becoming. People are expected to reflect the central ideology of the country with which they are associated or identified; therefore, a country is meant to construct institutions that would represent their ideological positions and enlighten people about what they stand for. This way, one can tell straight away what a country prioritizes as its values by interfacing or interacting with any of its institutions. This means that what the people usually stand for is reflected in the institutions they build to deal with their sociopolitical and cultural affairs. Those institutions are the products of their lived experiences, which have been alluded to previously.

People subjected to racial discrimination and prejudices are more likely to create an institution that would discourage such racial attitudes in the future. This would mean that they are guided by the history of pains that they have absorbed. For instance, when it is apparent that there is an institutional deficit in managing a country’s legal affairs or a group of people, one can immediately predict who or what priorities leaders in such an environment have. People concerned about orderliness and peace would not resent a functional judicial system or institution because the absence of this would inevitably invite anarchy, the surrogate father of chaos in all human society.

Meanwhile, institutions function like chains as they are connected, and one is affected by the condition of the others. This implies that when an institution malfunctions, it is highly likely to spread that weakness to other chains, and the overall results would be that the country would face numerous challenges that can submerge it or make a mockery of its very existence. Essentially, a weak justice system or institution would not have a functional policing system as its institutional partner. It would penetrate all other institutions because the people would have been exposed to social and political predations that would exploit their natural vulnerability. As a result, they would eventually seek whatever opportunity available to survive. A man who is wrongly treated by the police, for example, would fight for his rights and liberation.

The Nigerian case is very special, and its exceptionality is characterized by the series of uncoordinated actions by the people who run the government, which is clear evidence of the disinterest in an orderly environment. Everything that happens in the country, especially from the recent experiences, affirms an existential hypothesis that the country is not wired to be transformed. The awareness informs that every generation of Nigerian leaders consciously struggles to outdo the previous ones in irresponsible leadership and aimless representation. By so doing, they sabotage either the efforts of the founding fathers who toiled and suffered that the country would become outstanding or their conscience, which gets trapped in the ring of moral rectitude whenever they see others doing more with fewer resources than they can do even with the excess resources at their disposal.

Nigeria’s case is so different because there is a wide gap between the government and the people created by the institutions they have deliberately created so that their dubious intentions would be achieved accordingly. Nigeria is one of the few countries whose leaders would publicly decry the declined interest in people’s affection for indigenous products, while they seek healthcare in the cosiest hospitals in other countries where the wildest dream of the average citizen cannot even come close. Despite their class suicide, political sabotage, and identity assassination, Nigerian politicians are part of the people who want the citizens’ maximum adherence to laws and regulations, making one wonder if this is not an irony itself. The irony, however, is always lost on them.

Sadly, they do not have the intellectual capacity to connect the fact that a citizen who contravenes traffic law by not stopping their vehicle when the red traffic signal is on, and the politician who travels to Canada to tend to their wounds have committed similar moral errors. It is always not comparable; their brains assumably tell them. Or maybe they do not care. After all, in the Nigerian big man’s dictionary, laws exist only for poor people. So, when you ask Seun Kuti about his position against the police invaders who came to forcefully occupy his space without an arrest warrant from a court of law, his response is understandable within the context of protest against the Nigerian government and leaders who have refused to perform their side of the contract in this social togetherness. Political immobilization begins anytime the government does not demonstrate any form of respect to the institutions it created for the management of the social affairs and control of the people’s behaviour, including theirs. However, the government is always big, bigger than an individual. An individual protest could be seen as an attack, and it is understandable–no government wants competition.

During the just-concluded Toyin Falola Interviews with Seun Kuti as a guest, I started by asking why he refused the Lagos State government’s invitation for the Walk for Peace, given the fact that the foundation for his struggles, like others in that historical trajectory, including his late father, the famed Afrobeat pioneer, Fela Kuti, is the end product they look forward to. Seun’s response gave me a clue that his firebrand activism was about to be revealed. There is something to reflect on in his response: the Nigerian government’s breach of its statutory responsibilities. The government that denies the report of a judicial panel, which it constituted itself and committed the taxpayers’ funds for its organization and running, is not particularly sincere about peace because peace is not the absence of war but the presence of justice. When there is justice for all, regardless of political position or affiliation, there would be no reason for people to instigate violence that would disrupt the peace of the society.

In this light, our guest interviewer was asked by the foremost researcher on Anikulapo-Kuti Fela’s songs and protest, Professor Sola Olorunyomi, if there was a change of strategy in his approach to freedom or peace when he instructed his friends to “shoot out” after being invaded by the police officers in his residence. Seun provided two reasons that accounted for his aggressive approach to the issue of that invasion, and they will be explored here.

First, the Nigerian government has a history of deep-seated discontent with people who undertake the role of educating the masses. This is because not only does the power to instigate mass’s reaction lies with them, but they also have the potential to call international attention on them, which would be disastrous to their identity and unhealthy for their political aspirations. This attitude led to the historic invasion of Fela’s house, which led to the maltreatment of his mother and Seun Kuti’s grandmother, Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti. There was no justice to compensate the family for the wrong done against them. Consequently, the psychological inheritance has formed the materials with which Seun, and probably anyone affected by that traumatogenic experience, analyzed Nigeria.

Second, the recent assault on the innocent Nigerian citizens that culminated into the event of October 20, 2020, gave the citizens the impression that they were in for a long ride as the government cared less about their welfare and safety. It will not be wrong to conclude when there is evidence that the Nigerian government deployed military forces to supervise the masses’ peaceful protests. So, one cannot confidently predict when the government would use its political power to intimidate the defenceless masses, and Seun said it was better to defend his household to avoid being made a victim.

To agree or disagree with his style is a question of where one sits on issues of public interest, although aggression is not the best solution to violence. And this is where the revolutionary ideas that have developed into traditions in the Fela’s lineage begin to recoup for maximum manifestation. Seun’s resistance to the invaders who came to forcefully occupy his space expressed his dissatisfaction with anti-democratic governments who have no respect for human life and freedom. He has always expressed himself through music, which he inherited from his forebears. There is a strong chain of resistance to all forms of oppression in their genetic system and lineage. Music was the only instrument that Fela used effectively to challenge the government of Nigeria and many of the African countries of his age. He had the intention of using other platforms to promote his revolutionary messages, but the targets of his flagellating words would not just sit back and allow him to continue to use other mediums available to their disadvantages. Therefore, they must disallow him from accessing the platform to prevent the prospective negative consequences on them and their image. The platform was politics. Knowing how important it was to effectively enhance changes through political power, Fela considered using the platform to deliver the said messages. However, he was prevented, and this was not unanticipated. Today, his son, Seun Kuti, has decided to continue in that trajectory.

There are different categories of musicians, and Seun Kuti belongs to the revolutionary class. Thus, it became expedient for him to use that platform to air his views that are believed to be useful in the reconstruction of a greater Nigerian and African society. This way, there would be a demonstrable connection between what they sing and what happens in their society. The wish of the revolutionary singers is not to attract the attention of the world because of the aesthetic brilliance of their productions, but they are genuinely concerned about how their music connects with the spirit of the people, so much that they are acting the messages laden there for the enhancement of a better environment.

Notably, music in the Kuti family is a generational engagement, and each generation has a different focus and varied thematic assignment. For example, Seun’s great-grandfather, Josiah Ransome-Kuti, was a musical icon, too, although his songs were elitist. He was specifically given songs that appealed to that class he belonged to, and the reason for this was obvious. He belonged to the same elitist class in society, and it was only logical that he identified with the group he belonged to. Regardless of his class focus, he championed the idea of singing in his native tongue instead of the imperialist language. However, Seun’s father, Fela, departed from such a trend, and that was in collaboration with a historical experience that changed the trajectory.

Fela’s mother, Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti, became the ideological point of departure from the previous arrangements. Seeing the unending political torture that the colonizers introduced, she became dissatisfied with the establishment and came to the frontline of protest to challenge the hegemony of the imperialists. Staying behind the defenceless masses became a turning point in their family history because it set the stage for Fela to penetrate the toga of imperialism, challenge their expansionist agenda and call into question the neocolonial stooges that took over from them. As a result, it was seen as a family responsibility, and it comes as no surprise that such blood runs in their veins.

For Seun, the inheritance of struggles that he got from the musical ancestry of his lineage has a date with season and generation. He could have probably been a gospel singer, perhaps to emulate the activities of his great-grandfather. However, his grandmother and father’s toils have not seen the desirable changes as a source of inspiration that motivated his deviation from that path. The timing was different, but the message was the same. The agitations and grievances of the past generations would continue to compete with the contemporary ones in their gravity.

Music is made for the people under the bondage of political power; it is meant to be a solidarity step for them and something that would rekindle their spirit towards the demand for good leadership. Seun’s music is the eloquent evidence of a government ideology that ignores the imperatives of democracy. He believes that songs should be used as an instrument of reorientation, redirection, and rediscovery to hold the leaders responsible and accountable to the people and the position they have sworn to represent. His ideas are etched in his songs, and, undoubtedly, he has been very successful in this way.

Anywhere across the world, being a revolutionary comes with its attendant challenges, paid by the person involved either in measurable currency or immeasurable results. Perhaps because the network of evil perpetrators is an expanding web, those who benefit from disorderliness are always found making frantic efforts to ensure that the system continues unabated. They are in every aspect of the human world. They occupy important positions and wield so much power that it sometimes becomes difficult to fight them. For example, in the musical world, it is not unusual to come across detractors whose intention is to challenge any individual who has revolutionary dreams. As a result of their uncensored dislike for it, they indirectly streamlined the forms of songs and artistic productions that come out from society to not be indicted in the public domain. Suppose a song is banned because it addresses some salient issues. In that case, it becomes a warning signal to those who want to tread a similar road in the future because they would not only be suspicious of their environment, they would make efforts to ensure that the people in control of power do not obstruct their source of livelihood. Therefore, the artistic aesthetics would have been circumvented along the line and would discourage talented revolutionaries in their way.

Essentially, the ones who control the media either become the tool of destruction for the people’s intellectual ideas stringed together into the musical culture or become the mastermind behind the censuring of their productions. Now, this is where a revolutionary is differentiated from the commercial artist. The revolutionaries are not bothered or discouraged because they experience such backlash or conspiracy. They are motivated by their dream of an equitable environment for all and want to use their music to achieve that ambition. However, the commercial artist who intends to make money out of their trade would consider ways to bend to fit into the system and make their ends meet in the long run. As such, they are most likely going to scavenge their cultural resources, which they would arrange together for commodification. There, they would make enough money to douse the tension of their economic wretchedness.

All these are intermingled with very many other things generally. From the politics that we play, the economy that we maintain, the social relations that we keep, our education, and many others. One cannot but spot the intimidating power of the controlling class who wants to ensure that anything that contradicts their targets and ambition would not be achieved. Therefore, the Nigerian society has found itself in the trap of this intergenerational problem where one generation passes the baton to the succeeding ones, reflecting that tradition of bad governance and politics. In all ways possible, the educational system has to be rejuvenated with ideas and philosophies that would set the Nigerian people free from the shackles of imperialism. Without centring the African education model, the Africans would continue to breed generations of individuals whose mental ideas would forever contradict their spiritual makeup. For example, people who do not understand their history would have no interest in creating ideas that would liberate them from the bondage they are, which does not carry physical chains.

There is a synthesis between Seun Kuti’s musical productions, philosophies, ideological convictions, and the continent’s educational system. To drive revolutionary actions, one needs to look within and make substantial excavation of fossilized ideas that can be used to enhance development in contemporary time. European-designed curricula are helpful to the extent that they would only re-colonize the continent for the erstwhile imperialists, this time voluntarily rather than compulsorily. This means that the education of the Europeans inherited from the independence era has not been towards the emancipation of the people because it is unconcerned about their transformation per se.

Instead, the system has helped extend the frontiers of imperial actions against Africans. Therefore, to break free from the shackles of mental inferiority and identity suicide that people commit in contemporary times, there is an urgent need for the rejuvenation of the African spirit through the implantation of the African ideas in their minds right from childhood. When the people are mentally empowered to understand their original identity and grasp what transpired in their historical trajectory, they would be encouraged to take up the responsibility of re-branding themselves in ways that would reflect what they need and where they are supposed to be.

Seun Kuti is known for his revolutionary style of music in Nigeria and beyond its borders. His songs and personal life reflect an ideological conviction that people must be free and treated right. More importantly, he understands that achieving this is crucial but does not necessarily mean it can only be done through music. In the Nigeria of the contemporary time, his voice has taken shape, and his messages of freedom penetrate the wall of the political class who are involved in the destabilization of the peace and stability of the people.

(This is the report on the interview with Seun Kuti on December 5, 2021. With the number of views over 7 million on various platforms, his views are taken serious by his fans and loyalists. For the transcript, see YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ah6vUGPXhHg Facebook: https://fb.watch/9IOn2RCKEa/)

Falola is a Nigerian historian and professor of African Studies. He is currently the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin.

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INTERVIEW

How A Dull Student Graduated From University With A First-class Degree

Published

6 months ago

June 18, 2024

NewTimes

Edirin Onomuakpokpo

How do you feel after making a first-class degree from the Nasarawa State University?

I feel very elated, in fact it’s a dream come true. At the time I got admission into Nasarawa State University Keffi, a lot of students tried to discourage me, including some of my course mates for being too serious with my academics, some of them even said “nobody will give you first class”. But after my first semester result at 100 level came out, I had 4.30/5.0. This was the moment that changed everything, I realized it was a goal possible to attain only if I put in more effort and work smarter. At the 200 level first semester, I already had a first class CGPA of 4.53, so I just kept on with the tempo. Although faced with so many challenges, at the end graduated as the best student in my department with a CGPA of 4.59

What are you doing currently?

Currently, l’m serving my father’s land under the umbrella of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). It’s a privilege to serve, I must say and I’m using this opportunity to impact the students at my PPA and ensuring they get the best education in both practical and theoretical aspects of their studies.

Judging by your name Emmanuel Edirin Onomuakpokpo, you are obviously from Delta State in the South-south. Why did you leave all the universities in the South-south to attend Nasarawa State University?

After I wrote my first JAMB in 2017, Delta State University, Abraka (DELSU) was the first school to which I applied. My dad wanted me to go for medicine but unfortunately I applied for medical biochemistry instead because I didn’t hit the cut-off mark for medicine in my JAMB. However, I had 98/100 in their Post-UTME exam but yet was not given admission to study medical biochemistry. I could remember crying my eyes out that year, seeing my friends whom we graduated from secondary school together gaining admission to universities, I never wanted to sit at home doing nothing. May be it was actually God’s plan not to get admission then because medicine was never something I envisaged for myself. My drive had always been agriculture because I have always loved the idea of growing food and feeding the nation as a kid. So, studying an agricultural discipline would be to me a fullfiment of that dream. The next year 2018, thanks to Engr. Uzoma Kenneth .K, a neighbour of ours at the time and a family friend who introduced me to the concept of agricultural biotechnology, he told me this was the future of modern agriculture and encouraged me to focus my attention there since I already had interest in agriculture. So that very year I researched schools that offer this course, to the best of my knowledge Nasarawa State University Keffi was the closest I could find. Proximity to the university was another advantage to me since we resided in Nasarawa State. These and many other factors contributed to me leaving all the universities in the South and studying at the prestigious Nasarawa State University, Keffi.

What inspired you to attain that academic height?

Let me cut the long story short. I wasn’t always this brilliant and intelligent. There was a time I was called dull by my principal when I was in primary school. I struggled with my academics so much that my principal had to advise my mum to change my school because he couldn’t help my situation. This made my mum cry so much and I could feel her pains. After my mum agreed to change my school, I was repeated and had to be in the same class with my younger sister at the time. The moment I will never forget was one fateful morning, I was seated at the back sit of the class writing my exams, I think English Language, as I was focused on my paper suddenly I heard my name Emmanuel!! with a thunderous and aggressive voice, when I raised my head up it was my quantitative reasoning teacher Mr. Haruna. I will never forget his name. He called me out to the front of the class, and without first telling me the crime I had committed, he gave me a dirty slap. After which in an angry tone, he told me I failed his quantitative reasoning exam, that I had 16/70. I held my face with my hands, because I was very fair, the marks of his hands were visible on my face. I went home that day with that trauma and anger and told myself that never again would I be humiliated because of my academic performance. I didn’t just tell myself out of emotion, I backed it up with actions. Nobody was telling me to read my books, I told myself, I stopped playing too much and I began focusing on my books. The next term after the previous one the incident happened, I came second in class. This made my mum so happy . My dad was in Benin at the time, he had to send a bicycle for me as his present to show his appreciation of my performance. I was happy with myself too. From then on, there was this consciousness I woke up to that ignited my desire to become the best in everything I do. I was also inspired by my dad’s academic performance, Mr. Augustine A. Onomuakpokpo. He graduated with a second class upper. At the time I got into the university I told him I was going to beat his results. He challenged me to it and now I guess I won, all glory be to God.

Did you envisage coming out of the university with that class of degree?

At first I envisaged graduating with a good grade, maybe second-class upper degree. But after my first semester result at the 100 level, I took a pen and wrote on a sheet of paper “l’m a First-class Plant Biotechnologist” and pasted it on my wall in my room. At this point I knew it was possible and waking up everyday to the writing on my wall, I became restless and heavy each time I missed out on my reading timetable because the man on the wall was the only thing I could see.

What were the challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?

The challenges were numerous but the most daunting one was the issue of balancing my academic life, social life and spiritual life. I had to find a way to be active in all. To surmount the issue of socialization, when I got into the university at the 100 level, because of how pro-active I was in all things pertaining to student welfarism, I was made the course representative. This exposed me to interacting with students from different backgrounds, cultures and traditions. I had to develop leadership skills, listening skills and attentiveness to be able to shoulder the responsibilities of being a course rep and secretary general of the department. I was also very active in religious activities. During the 100 level second semester, I discovered that from 100 – 400 levels, there was no group dedicated to actively putting my school especially my department in prayers, so I formed one and congregated students to intercede for the department. I believe our prayers worked and God helped us. Although I was engaged with all these activities, I also ensured that only 20% of my time was given to them and 80% of the time, I was always on my books.

How did your lecturers support you ?

I wouldn’t have achieved this great feat without the help of my lecturers. At this point, I’m proud to call them my mentors. They include Dr. Bello Abdulkarim, Dr. Muhammad Hassan Sani Loko and my very unquantifiably supportive supervisor Prof. J. C. Onovo. They saw the potential I was carrying, and they drew me close like a father would a son and constantly fed me with words of encouragement. Dr. Bello Abdulkarim and Dr. Muhammad Hassan Sani Loko would always admonish me and call me to order when they noticed I had derailed. University is a place filled with so many distractions, sometimes we may get carried away by activities forgetting the very reason why we are there. Having people like these was a blessing to me and I’m proud to say these were the people that encouraged me and pushed me beyond my self to bring out academic excellence in me.

What is your plan after your youth service?

My plan after my youth service is to get a fully funded scholarship in Canada, USA or Europe, to further my academic career in order to gain advanced knowledge in scientific research especially in the area of biotechnology, genome sequencing, environmental conservation, plant breeding and genetics, and bio-resource engineering. So that with the scientific skills acquired from this programme, I would be able to positively impact the Nigeria agricultural sector and the world at large, to help combat the issue of food insecurity and to proffer solutions to plant-related issues using biotechnology.

What advice do you have for students who desire to graduate with a first-class degree?

My advice is simple, make your academics your priority and exclude unnecessary distractions and put God first. Have a CGPA goal for each semester and remember each time you fail is an opportunity to reinvent yourself to do better the next time you try.

Interview

Toyin Falola Interviews To Hold Panel Discussion On Languages And Archives In Knowledge Reproduction About Africa

Published

11 months ago

February 8, 2024

NewTimes

The Toyin Falola Interviews has scheduled a discussion with distinguished panelists, Professors Ngom Fallou, Ghirmai Negash, Abiodun Salawu, and John Mugane, who will be sharing their expertise on “Languages and Archives in Knowledge Production About Africa”.

Sunday, March 3, 2024

5 PM Nigeria

10 AM Austin

https://www.tfinterviews.com/post/Languages

Join via Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81714206181

Interview

Pentecostalism In Africa (1)

Published

11 months ago

February 1, 2024

NewTimes

Prof. Toyin Falola

By Toyin Falola

Of all the things that have happened to the African continent in the past decades, the growth and expansion of Christianity and Islam have been one of the most impressive. This deep commitment to faith is not totally removed from the natural gravitation toward hope and positivity. Against the background of declining opportunities, many Africans have found solace in religion and the promise of a better life. If things don’t work well on Earth, the afterlife offers more than a promise.

Within the enormous growth of Christianity in Africa has been the steady rise in the popularity and expansion of Pentecostalism. The socio-economic, religious, and political nuances of the rise of Pentecostalism will be one of the subjects of the Interview with a preeminent figure, Apostle Professor Opoku Onyinah, on February 4, 2024.

Pentecostalism on the African continent dates to the early 20th century, with the earliest movements such as the Apostolic Faith Mission, Assemblies of God, the Pentecostal Zionist Movement (all in South Africa), l’Église Harriste (in Côte d’Ivoire), Christ Apostolic Church, morphing from Precious Stone Society, and the Apostolic Church (all in Nigeria). Some would argue that I may be confusing some of these churches with latter-day Pentecostal ones.

Pentecostalism took off during the colonial era, heavily influenced by the American Pentecostals, including but not limited to William Seymour (who wrote the Apostolic Faith newspaper that sparked the influx of Pentecostalism into the continent), Lucy Farrow, Paul Marty, and Julia Hutchins. Like all successful expansions in history, the Pentecostalist movement came to Africa at a time when the environment was fertile for its growth. Some would also argue that Pentecostalism was homegrown.

The African people were subjected to colonialism, and in seeking a way out, they found hope in the core ideals of the new movement — grace, salvation, an afterlife, spiritual empowerment through the Holy Ghost, healing, and wonders — promises that held liberation for the people and freedom from the shackles of the second-class citizenship that colonialism offered them on their soil.

The case has often been made in favour of classifying religion as a social concept. This classification does not seek to discredit the divinity that any of the religions claim. However, it is a way to argue that religions belong in the human society, by humans; as much as cultures and civilizations belong to the human society. A point of note in the argument for the classification of religion as a social concept is religious syncretism. Just like any other human social phenomenon capable of influencing and being influenced by other phenomena, religions and religious denominations and factions influence and get influenced by other religions and religious denominations, and Pentecostalism is not an exception.

Pentecostalism has witnessed several cultural adaptations and syncretism. Religious worship among Christians is subjected to personal perceptions and subjective interpretations of the divine. A Christian can only offer worship in the best way he can conceive in his mind who his Creator is. He can imagine the wonders of the Creator. Therefore, as the Pentecostalism movement grew in popularity across and spread across the African continent, it was influenced by several indigenous African belief systems and practices.

The result has been a dynamic interplay of Pentecostal Christianity with traditional African spirituality, giving rise to unique, Afrocentric expressions of faith. One of these unique, Afrocentric expressions of faith is the upbeat mode of religious worship among Pentecostal churches. This upbeat mode reflects vibrant and lively music, energetic dancing, loud prayer sessions, and an insurmountable belief in the intervention of divine forces in terrestrial affairs.

Furthermore, the communal nature of African societies, influencing the people’s strong belief in and connection to their ancestral heritage, has made the belief in and war against ancestral curses, “village people”, and witchcraft popular elements in the Pentecostalism practised in the African continent. From the earliest years, prayers of war against witches, wizards, and enemies formed an integral part of churches such as the Christ Apostolic Church and even served as one of the biggest factors in the swift growth and expansion of African Pentecostal churches.

I stated above that Pentecostalism has been one of the fastest-growing phenomena on the African continent. However, it is vital to note that Pentecostalism’s growth has not only been about the founding of several churches and the expansion of such churches across Africa and other continents. Beyond its spiritual dimensions, Pentecostalism has highly influenced the social landscape in Africa. The swift growth and expansion of Pentecostal churches, the construction of mega-church buildings, and the management of several church-owned operations have also meant that these churches have become large employers of labour, with thousands of members earning their living through church operations. Some of these large Pentecostal churches own printing presses, primary schools, secondary schools, and universities — some of which have gone on to be ranked among the best institutions on the continent.

These large-scale operations have afforded people access to education and employment, two of the most critical elements in any society. Furthermore, donation and support outreaches are an integral part of the existence of many of these churches. There is no denying the level of influence Pentecostal churches wield in society, from the grassroots to the elite strata, especially as their large sizes mean they can always boast of members in every industry and at every level. The brotherhood approach of these Pentecostal churches means members are quick to identify and help each other. This, often called “being favoured”, is a case where members of mega Pentecostal churches belonging to the elite strata of society find placement for their fellow church members at government parastatals and institutions, multi-national companies, and other companies.

The founding of mega Pentecostal churches and the construction of grand worship centres have also been instrumental in the construction of healthcare centres, road networks, and housing structures. Furthermore, several African Pentecostal churches have been involved in the organization of large-scale empowerment programs, especially for women and youth, and community development initiatives, including serving as pressure groups to influence government policies.

In saying that Pentecostalism in Africa has experienced immense growth, I am also saying that while globalization has become increasingly realistic with the increased connectivity of people across the globe, Pentecostal churches in Africa have tapped into the advantages of technology to bring their operations to a global audience. Several Pentecostal African churches — such as The Redeemed Christian Church of God, the Christ Apostolic Church, The Apostolic Church, United Family International, Church Doxa Deo, CRC Church, the Living Faith Church, Deeper Life Bible Church, and the Church of Pentecost — have established a global presence spanning hundreds of countries, influencing the diaspora community, and contributing to the global Pentecostal movement.

The introduction of satellite television networks played a crucial role in the expansion of African Pentecostal churches into the diaspora. As members of these African churches relocated to other countries, they sought the need to continue in fellowship with their churches and founded branches in their new locations, getting an easy connection to the headquarters through the internet, satellite television, and transnational networks. African Pentecostal churches in the diaspora do not only impact global Christianity, but they also play an unmistakable role in the shaping of the religious experiences of the African diaspora, serving as a haven and a new family for new immigrants and positioning as centres of cultural preservation, spiritual solace, and community building.

Although there has been immense growth and expansion within the Pentecostal movement in Africa — with an undeniable socio-economic impact — there are deeds and developments among Pentecostal churches on the continent that leave room for criticism and questions.

To properly explore Pentecostalism in Africa, it is vital to examine some of the critiques that have been levelled against Pentecostal churches on the continent. The first and perhaps biggest concern that has been brought up in the wake of the growth of Pentecostalism has been the commercialization of spirituality, a phenomenon that has manifested itself through several dimensions. There have been cases of churches categorizing spiritual problems and assigning financial costs to each category for members seeking deliverance.

There has also been an emphasis on tithes, offerings, and giving back to the church, sometimes overly emphasized at the detriment of the giver, who may not be financially buoyant but must succumb to the pressure and belief in the promises of manifold blessings and the multiple returns on every token given for every token given.

Several Pentecostal churches in Africa promote the prosperity gospel, which has seen their leaders rank among some of the wealthiest spiritual leaders in the world. The theological concepts of the prosperity gospel emphasize material wealth as a sign of God’s favour, sometimes elevated as the core of a church’s message, thereby ignoring the possibility of members seeking wealth, including through financial misappropriation, fraud, embezzlement, and other crimes.

Over the years, doctrinal controversies have also rocked the Pentecostal movement in Africa, sometimes threatening to disrupt the movement and tear it asunder. Although Pentecostal churches on the continent share some common beliefs revolving around salvation through grace, healing, and some other concepts, there are stark differences in some of their doctrines, with some churches accusing others of peddling heresy. The doctrinal divergence in the African Pentecostal movement has sparked theological debates, including spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues, the role of women in the church, and what constitutes holiness.

Pentecostalism in Africa has come a long way, and by all indications, it shows the potential to grow in leaps and bounds. It is, therefore, with utmost pleasure that I invite you to join us on the next edition of The Toyin Falola Interviews, where we will host Apostle Professor Onyinah — a scholar of excellence and a leading theologian in the field of African Pentecostalism.

Sunday, February 4, 2024

5:00 PM Nigeria

4:00 PM Ghana

10:00 AM Austin CST

Register and Watch:

https://www.tfinterviews.com/post/opokuonyinah

Join via Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87059407807