The founder of the Living Faith Church, Bishop David
Oyedepo, has described the provision of quality
education as an expensive venture.
The preacher said this while defending the tuition fees
charged by private tertiary institutions — Covenant and
Landmark universities — owned by the church.
In a media chat with journalists on Friday in Ota, Ogun
State, Oyedepo also highlighted some of the church’s
humanitarian programmes which include providing
scholarships and bursary awards to assist students.
Schools in the country, including Covenant and
Landmark universities, owned by the church are often
criticised for being too expensive for average Nigerians
to afford.
He said, “I’m sure we all agree that
education is expensive. Education carries
cost; nothing of value is free. Our mission
for years long, before we started any
university or secondary school, was a
bursary awarding church and we have not
stopped doing that till tomorrow.”
Oyedepo said that the church was
committed to providing quality education to
youths, adding that many Nigerians
complain about the cost of education in
private universities because they have got
their priorities misplaced.
“Our problem most of the time is priority; an
average Nigerian can spend N1m on burial
but to spend N200,000 on education (is a
problem), because of wrong priority.
“On a yearly basis, we have N1.5trn that
Nigerians spend to overseas universities, so
people thrive on it. Nigerians spend N463bn
a month on recharge cards, how much are
they paying for schools fees? So it’s all a
matter of priority. This is the largest market
for telephone in the world. Now, to pay
N500,000, some people have only one son,
they have huge business and houses all
over the places, they will never pay it.”
Speaking further, Oyedepo said he had
chosen not to respond to the many
controversial reports about him on the
social media because he considered it as a
waste of time.
He said, “My understanding of opposition,
persecution is simply someone’s opinion
harshly expressed. Everybody has a right to
his opinion. Today, millions follow after
Christ but you will be surprised that when
you get to Israel some people do not believe
that Christ has come.
“People have rights to their opinions. I
naturally don’t feel it’s necessary (to
respond). The energy I would need to react,
I can use it to make moves. I have enough
to think about than start running after a man
who says you are a fool.
“If he says you are a fool and you are
behaving so, then he’s right. If you leave
your job and start pursuing somebody who
says you are a fool, he has already said so,
your going around doesn’t change it. So
why going around, why don’t you settle on
your job and make moves?
“I’ve also come to understand that those
who make news hardly watch them, they
are so busy making news while others are
busy watching.”
Asked about the challenges he has faced in
life and in his ministry, Oyedepo said he had
never dwelled on his challenges but that he
has rather been fuelled by them.
He said, “Life essentially is full of
challenges, it is those challenges that make
champions. You can’t emerge a heavy
weight boxing champion except you receive
punches. You can’t change classes in
school except you write exams.
“So to me, life is an adventure in challenges
and I’ve said often that it is normal to be
challenged but it’s unscriptural to be
defeated. Challenges are the stepping
stones for the making of champions.”
At age 27, in 1981, Oyedepo started his
ministry in Ilorin, Kwara State and sited his
first church two years later in Kaduna State.
At the media chat, he said that the church
now has branches in 63 countries in the
world and that the Faith Tabernacle in Ota,
where he pastors, hosts “over 200,000
worshippers every Sunday morning in four
services.”

source: www.today.ng/news/im-sure-we-all-agree-that-education-is-expensive-oyedepo-defends-fees-charged-by-private-varsities/

Hmmm

What else do you expect from him?

Okay

No wonder