‘My best 70th birthday gift is moving BIU to permanent site’

 Q: At 70, you are still full of life and testimonies. What has been your experience especially in the ministry and your advice to the women?

Idahosa: Thank you very much gentlemen of the press for coming to my office just to celebrate with me that which God has done in my life. I sit here not by my power and might but by the power of the Almighty God. I owed it all to Him because if I remember very well, some of my mates who we were born at the same time and in the same area are no longer alive.

It is not because I am too good, holy or too righteous but I think it is because of the grace of God and for that I say ‘Thank You’ to God. I also welcome all of you because I think as pastors we stay behind the pulpits to teach and to dish out what God has in mind for the people. As pressmen out there, you are also pastors telling the people your own visions and what God has for the people in the community, state and the nation at large. I want to let you know that we are all working together. We are partners in progress.

On what has been my experience since I recognised that I am here for something? Since I assumed the position of Archbishop of Church of God Mission, I will say that it has not been all that easy but I have God on my side and because I have God on my side, and He has a wide shoulder for me to climb on and lay on; when I have any problem He has always been there for me.

And by the grace of God, by July 29 I will be 70 years old and I don’t see the difference in the inside and outside of me and on the strength that God has given to me. It is a fact that I am not as strong as I used to be when I was 20 years or 30 years, but I have this to say that I am still strong.

I give all the glory to God because I see some of my mates that have lost their husbands and who have become shadows of their old selves. I often tell them that losing a husband or a wife is not the end of the world; there is more to life than what you are seeing on the outside and it depends on how you react to certain things that happen to you.

But I have this to say: since the death of my husband, it is a fact that there are some days I don’t feel like getting out of bed because I miss him. But when I look at the work that God has given to us, I brace up and I continue with what God has asked me to do.

So, to answer that question, things have been going on well by the grace of God. Though, it has not been a bed of roses, life has been going on well as expected.

My advice to the womenfolk out there are: Number one, God is not a respecter of persons; what He has done for one He can also do for others. What He has done for a man He can do for a woman as well. But the major challenge is availability.

So I advise them to avail themselves of that which they are inclined to or that which is their strength. Avail yourself of it, invest in it and be focused. Don’t be intimidated because you are a woman because that was how I felt when the Archbishop left.

When I was appointed to take over the mantle of leadership of the Church, I had no one to ask except God. And I prayed saying, “God, you know I live in a man’s world and for a woman to become an Archbishop I haven’t heard it before but how do you want me to function when you know I live in a man’s world?”

And for about two weeks, I didn’t hear anything from God and I kept on asking and crying not knowing that God is not moved by my tears nor my needs; God is moved by faith.

The moment I braced up and I said, “God, now I have realised that no need moves You, my heart is fixed on You and You put me in this position and now I want You to let me know why and how I am going to function in a man’s world.”

After a few weeks God spoke to me and said, “Margaret, if I made the appointment, I will release the ability to perform.” And I said, “That is good,” and since then it has been that. So to answer that question completely, let the women be focused. Let them know that they are not the first to lose their husbands. We may lose our husbands but life goes on.

Focus on your strength and do that which God has earmarked for you to do for yourself, the family and the community at large.

What are those memorable things that you think have happened to you in the last 70 years?

There is so much. Number one is that I am still alive. I am excited, elated and I give all the praises to my God that I am alive; that I still have the breath of God in my nostrils; I can still wake up early in the morning, go to the bathroom and take a shower, come in and dress myself and go out for my daily job. For these, I am grateful to God my Creator.

Secondly, the children that God has given to me have been a blessing to me. They seek for my comfort and I don’t kneel down to pray for them and say, “Father, look at them out there; see what I am doing, please help me bring them back to come and be part of what I am doing.”

But everyone of them has carved out a niche for themselves in the ministry, which is of great honour and pride to our God and to this ministry. I see some pastors come to this ministry to ask for prayers, saying, “Please pray for my son, my daughter.”

But I want to thank God that God came to them or they went to God by themselves. It was not because their father was a pastor or a bishop and now their mother; no, they found God by themselves. They entered into the thing that God is doing through them and God spoke to them individually on what to do and they are doing it. I am grateful to God and God is helping us in the family.

What are the challenges?

The challenges so far? I will say that the challenge I am facing is myself. God speaks and I sit down to begin to ask questions to challenge God and say, “God, who am I and why should I do that?” But the moment I say, “God, I hands up; let me do it,” my God has always been helping me.

So, the challenge I have is myself; how to obey God and how to do the things God has asked me to do. And as for the people, once I stand up to say this is what God has said and I explain it to them, they believe me. But the challenge I have is just me. I would say, “God, nobody has ever done that. Why are you telling me to do that?” That is just the challenge I have. I am still praying that “God, when you speak let me hear and do what You have said to me.”

What is that memorable day or experience in your life now that you have clocked 70 year?

Now that I am 70, I will never, never forget the day my husband died. Before that day we went for a crusade outside the country and after the crusade, I told him, “Honey, I am not going to stay behind and I am coming home with you because we came together and we are also going home together.” He said, “No problem.”

But by the time we were through, we had not seen the children since the beginning of the year. At that time their school fees and other things had not been paid. He gave me money and instructed me to go and see them, spend two or three days with them and ensure that all their school obligations are settled, adding, “Then you can come.”

You know children they can do something to the heart of a woman. A woman can go the extra mile to make her children comfortable. And I told him that I have promised not to stay behind and that we will all go back to Nigeria together but because of the children, I accepted to go for just two days. He left me. Within those two days, I was called that he had died.

I will never, never forget that day. It was as if the top of my life, the roof over my head was taken away. That is very, very significant to me and I will never forget that day.

At 70, what next?

Even at the level of being an archbishop, I still wait on God. Whatever He tells me to do, I will do. And I know that God will not tell me to do things I cannot do because He is God and He knows my ability, inability; what I can do and what I cannot do. So, whenever He speaks I am ready and prepared to do it. I have told myself that I am available to God; wherever He sends me and lead, I will go. I am strong and ready.

What have been the challenges of running a private university in addition to the ministry?

Having a university is not an easy thing. Before the death of my husband the university was not fully accredited by the Federal Government so we had to work on it. We had to work on our programmes and all those requirements the National University Commission (NUC) demanded for. And in 2002, it was finally approved by the Federal Government.

We all know that running a university is not an easy thing even for a state government to run. But we want to thank God that the foundation of our university is built on God and when God gives a vision He also makes provision. God has been helping us from one stage to the other since the beginning of the university.

What is your message to Nigerian women?

My message to Nigerian women is that they should hold onto God, looking on to Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith. That is my message to them. You know insecurity is not just Nigeria’s problem; it is everywhere. Insecurity is new to us and that is why everybody is singing about it. But with God on our side and with us as leaders of this country, instead of complaining, we should join our hands and begin to pray for our leaders that God will direct them aright.

The Restoration Centre was established by the Church to train women on several skills as well as empower them. How many women have been trained by the Institute and how much has been spent to empower them?

The Restoration Centre was given to us by God and like I said, if God gives a vision, He makes sure that He brings people around that will provide for the vision and God has been very, very faithful to us since the establishment of the Centre.

When God gives us the name ‘the Christian Fellowship Women International,’ He did not tell us all the nitty-gritty, the ups and downs that we will encounter on the way. But you know every year we come together as a body, God opens a little more about His vision.

For the Centre, we have trained and empowered a good number of women. At the Centre, we have a skills acquisition centre where they learn how to fix hair, nails; hat-making, computer training, among others. We train a lot of our women and when they are through we make sure that we also empower them with things like buying them hairdressing equipment. That is what we have been doing. Also, for those who came to Benin City from different states and villages we make sure that we empower them with some money so that they can go home and start their own businesses.

There is one thing I must not forget to add: I have started the digging of bore holes in some communities. As a matter of fact, I have done one for Central Hospital now for the women and children. My passion is for the less privileged, the widows and physically challenged persons in our society and by the grace of God I have about three orphanages I am taking care of. We have our own that we call “My Sister Place.” The more God gives me life and wisdom, the more I will do for the society.

You have not really been specific on the number of women that have been trained by the Centre and the amount spent on empowerment?

I can’t give the actual figure at the moment but I know we have been training women since 1975. So, I cannot exactly tell the number of women we have trained. As a matter of fact, I don’t have that figure but all I am interested in is to make sure that women are educated instead of just sitting down at home waiting for a man to give them food or to put food on their table. I tell them that there is a life inside of them and all they need is just a little push and they can be where God wants them to be. And for that we have been training and retraining as well as empowering women.

The World of Faith Group of Schools is owned by the Church. It is a general belief that churches establish schools just to make money. How would you react to this assertion and what informed the establishment of the school?

The World of Faith Group of Schools is owned by us; that is true. It is a fact that money is coming now but at the time we established it we were putting money into it; money to build infrastructure, provision of academic equipment, money to pay academic and non-academic staff among others.

The initial objectives of establishing the school was not to make money but to teach children right from cradle. We have a crèche, a primary and secondary school just to create awareness. If you look at Benin before this ministry came into existence maybe some of you were not even born or were not living in Benin City at that time; you will agree with me that Benin was not like this.

It was called a city of blood. If a native doctor tells you that by 2pm you will be dead, you better go and get ready because you will be dead. But when the real gospel came and we started letting men and women know that God is not a killer; God wants you to give your heart to Him, to worship Him and He will protect you and your children, we have seen a lot of changes.

So, I look at these children and I said, “20 years from now they should be able to serve the society; 20 years from now they should be able to contribute their quota to the development of Benin City” and that was what was in our mind when the World of Faith Group of Schools was established.

But to say that the school is making money, maybe it is now, but I don’t know. But whatever comes from there is put back into the ministry.

How have you been able to perform your duty as the head of the church as well as a mother?

I will say I am able to function because I work with a team of men and women that know the vision that God has given to us. Like you rightly said, we have churches, we have schools, a university, a Bible school, a hospital and an international leadership institute.

For instance, in the churches we have different bishops. Here we have one bishop who is in charge of finance and budget so I don’t have to crack my brain because he is trained for that. Since, I was not trained for that whatever concerns money, finance, budget, expenditures among others I just call him and say, “This is your area of speciality” and he does it very well.

The man in charge of administration is also here and he directs the affairs of the churches. We have different bishoprics. Every bishop directs the affairs of their bishopric. So, as far I am concerned, I don’t have much to do than maybe once in every two or three months we all come together to exchange ideas on the strengths, weaknesses, and how to improve and go to the next stage. I believe strongly in team work. Everyone that we have has become a team player and no one is paralysing his or her side of the team.

I have an office at the Faith Arena, I come to the office everyday when I am in town and I do my job. When it is time to go home, I go and I stay home. Or maybe I create some extra time to do some extra work, I do it and I go home. This morning, I am not supposed to be in the office because I have a grandchild. She is three months old and that is my seventh grandchild. I saw her just briefly yesterday after church service and the mother just told me that “Grandma, we have come to spend some time with you and you are going away.”

I told her that I was not supposed to go to work today but because I have some gentlemen of the press waiting for me in the office, I am going out and I assured her that I will be back immediately I am through with you here. As soon as I am through, I will be going home to carry my grandchild and play with her. So, when I am at home I am a mother as well as a grandmother. I don’t allow the works of the ministry to weigh me down. I also have people who do other functions of the ministry like finance and administration.

What would you expect as the best birthday gift to you at 70?

Last month, we had a council meeting that comprised all the pastors in the country; they were over 300 and before then we had the bishops and coordinators’ meeting. I overheard them making some plans behind me and when they were discussing they would just say, “Mama, please just give us some time.”

I then told them, “By July 29 this year, I will be 70 years old. Number one, I don’t need any husband. I had one, and I enjoyed him. Secondly, I don’t need children, biologically I mean. God gave me children. I have seven children and I don’t need a house because I live in a palace. To maintain that house in a month costs me so much and for that I don’t need another house.

“For me if you all will agree with me I would rather have a small house like three bedrooms and one room for visitors. It is just good enough for me rather than a big one. I don’t want another house. But one thing I want all of you to do for me is to help me move Benson Idahosa University from the temporary site to permanent site. That is what I want.”

They were all looking at me and I said, “Yes, that is all I need. I don’t need clothes, I don’t need jewelries. There are some clothes I am still hanging on my wardrobe. People just give me the clothes and other things.” I told them I don’t need anything but the thing I want mostly is to be able to move the university from its temporary site to the university village. So that is what I want.

It is said that women ought to be seen and not to be heard. What is your view on this, and also, what are those things that really equipped you to become a bishop?

On the first part of the question, that is an old adage now. We are letting women to know that you must be seen and must be heard. I am not advocating for women to usurp authority from the men because God has made the men the head of their homes. If the head of the home is acting as the head in providing for you, caring, educating and doing all God wants the men to do there is no reason for the woman to usurp authority.

But that thing which God has embedded in you is important. God put it there for you to enjoy, for your home and others that are around you in the community to enjoy as well. So, don’t die inside with the gift and the talent that God has given to you. Do your bit in the home. Make sure your husband eat, do whatever your husband loves you doing but do not die with the gift and talent that God has given to you.

Myles Monroes said that there’s a place on this planet earth that is very rich and that is the cemetery. The cemetery is rich with talents, gifts and songs that were never sang. I tell everyone to make sure they do whatever God has earmarked for them to do for their families and generation at large.

The next part of the question is on the secret of my success. The secret of my success is God, the Holy Spirit. I rely on Him everyday. The first thing I do in the morning is to kneel down by my bedside and just sing some lovely hymns to Him and He rejuvenates me.

That is what I tell people. Not that I don’t have problems but I don’t let the problems to have me. I dominate the problem and with the Holy Spirit in me I am able to surmount the problems. For the women out there, “Don’t let problem have you; you dominate the problem with the Holy Spirit and with God. You may not have the Holy Spirit but make sure that you relate to God. Take your daily needs to Him, and you will see that God Himself will agree to do that which you desire.”