Encomium
THE General Overseer of Christ Royal Family International Church, Bishop Tom Samson spoke to ENCOMIUM Weekly about his decision to stage the first Inter-house sports competition for his group of schools. He also defended his prediction that Nigeria will not break up and Prof. Attahiru Jega would not be removed.
Your group of schools have been on for some years now, why have you decided to stage the first Inter-house sports competition now?
The schools have been in existence for eight years but because we have a stadium now, it’s better for us than taking the children elsewhere. We didn’t stage any Inter-house sports because we have been involved in other extracurricular activities like excursions. Now that we have a stadium and the number of students has increased, we felt we should include sports in our curricula activities to bring children together and build a relationship between our seven schools.
How much did it cost you to stage the Inter-house sports?
We have spent a lot. We spent millions, I can’t put figures together. Organizing an event like this is not a joke. Some parents supported us and some members of our church too.
How long did you plan this Inter-house sports?
We started planning in January and because of the cooperation we got from our parents, teachers and the management, we got the best.
How do you feel seeing the children happy and everything went as planned?
I feel excited because the children, parents and guests were excited. When you do a great job on the children, they give it back to you by showing their abilities. And when you invest in something and it’s yielding results, you will be so excited.
In many schools, they find it difficult to get a standard stadium, how did you come about it?
It’s about vision. I didn’t just start a school because I want to make money. I want to get the best out of it. Not just opening a school, but opening the best and inculcating the best in the children.
You invited other schools, but there are no public schools among these schools, why is it like that?
We invited over 100 schools, but these are the schools that honoured our invitation. We invited both public and private schools.
Sometime back, we had an interview with you and you said, “Elections will hold and Nigeria will still stand as one.” Have you changed your view now that the elections have been postponed and many issues are cropping up?
It’s going to hold. According to our President, the reason why the election was postponed is security and I believe them. So, election is going to hold.
What is your view about the dirty campaigns of the politicians?
Politicians will always be politicians. Spoiling each other’s name and trying to make the other party look inferior, it has always been like that in Nigerian politics. It is not strange but one thing I know is that Nigeria will be together. Don’t believe all they say in public, because they will go back and be friends. We should be focused.
There was an allegation that pastors were given N6 billion. What is your take on this?
I am not aware of that, and I don’t want to believe it because that is outside our calling. So, I don’t want to believe it.
There is a rumour that Prof. Attahiru Jega will be removed, what is your view on this?
Nobody will remove Jega. Jega will do his work. You can’t please the whole world but I feel he should be given the opportunity to finish the work he started.
Ogun State is said to have the highest number of schools in Nigeria. What is your view on this?
I am also going to have a university very soon. Monarch University is going through approval process now and it will be in Ogun State. I think Ogun State is accommodating and there is vast land. Where we are now is 100 hectares of land for Royal City Secondary School. We have College of Education here, primary and secondary school. We also have hospital here too. Ogun State is blessed with massive land. When I came here eight years ago, it was like a forest, but with development, we have houses, and businesses are flourishing. There is a large mass of land that is yet to be developed. With the institution, students are coming in and development will take place. I congratulate the Commissioner for Education in Ogun State and I will ask him to render necessary assistance to the education sector because one of the things that bring growth to the economy is education.
We will be establishing more schools. We want to affect lives positively. We will establish in Ikorodu and other parts of Lagos State because I have passion for education.
What makes your school different?
We are sports conscious in our school, we feel we need to catch them young. We want the best in various aspects of sports. The fear of God makes our school different. Being a missionary school, we see what children are turning to. Right from the primary school level, we teach them the fear of God and spiritual discipline. Our students are intelligent. We intend to have one of the best schools in the country. ‘Academic excellence, spiritual pride’ that’s our watchword. I want parents to invest in their children because they are the hope of tomorrow.
– NKECHINYERE IBEMERE
