“What apparently looks like a socioeconomic revolution is taking place in Imo State. Though it is taking the shape of a religious course, I can tell you that what Evangelist Ebuka Obi and his Zion Prayer Movement Outreach have launched in Amala/Ntu in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State is a complete social, economic, educational and community development revolution. I am excited because it shows that Ndigbo have started the think home philosophy which Ohanaeze has been preaching for about three decades now”.....CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE
Above were the thoughts of Chief Joe Chibuike Iwu, a Port Harcourt-based businessman who attended last weekend’s three-day World Conference between August 23 and 25, 2024, which also served as the inauguration of the ministry’s move to its permanent headquarters.
It will never be an overstatement to infer that religion, particularly Christianity, played a leading and heroic role in the growth and development of the country, especially in southern Nigeria.
The Christian missionaries defied all odds and challenges, including inclement weather conditions, terrible ill health situations, with particular reference to malaria, the hostility of the natives who saw them as usurpers and language barriers, besides the construction of worship centres (churches), still established landmark projects like hospitals/ clinics, schools, trade centres, and sports complexes.
Dramatically but carefully taking a clue from his predecessors – the Christian missionaries – Obi has poignantly orchestrated a well-packaged religious programme that will not just be trumpeting about holiness and righteousness, but will also encourage social uplift, promote healthcare delivery, improve standards of education, and, in the process, cause massive infrastructural development in the immediate host community and its environs.
While revealing the essence and reason for its choice of Ngor Okpala in Imo State, Zion Prayer Movement Outreach noted that the area had enough virgin land which fitted into the type of space the ministry needed to operate effectively.
According to the director of media and publicity, Patrick Ihionu, Ngor Okpala has everything ZPMO needs as the location of its permanent headquarters.
He said, “We have secured 21,000 plots of land in Ngor-Okpala in Imo State, where we would build a Zion City, not only an auditorium. We would have a university, secondary school, hospital, and old people’s home to cater to our members and indeed the people of Imo State (and the world at large). This will serve as our headquarters in Nigeria. Before now, we have held it in Lagos, so for us, it is like a homecoming.”
What quickly went through the minds of the journalists the moment Ihionu mentioned Ngor Okpala and Imo State during the press conference held at the end of the ministry’s 100-day prayer, was the issue of insecurity. He explained that ZPMO had entered into a partnership with the Imo State Government as well as relevant security agencies to ensure adequate security in the area.
The media director outlined some of the services the ministry would be providing besides spiritual direction. According to him, “The Seraphic Home Foundation, an arm of the ministry, provides care for the poor, destitute, and orphans. The ministry also operates Seraphic Hospital, which assists those unable to afford medical treatment, and offers legal aid to those in need.”
It has been confirmed that the proposed New Zion City Centre is to house a housing estate, university, pilgrimage centre, and secondary school. Other features of New Zion City are hospitals/clinic, factories, hostels, malls, modern farms, markets, an independent solar powered system, a car bay, a water scheme, and recreation centre. It is indeed a multi-million project that will provide multiple services to both the visitors to the complex as well as the host community.
A native of Amala, the host community of ZPMO, Prince Promise Okere, gave insights how the people of the area are feeling as well as what might be the gains of Ebuka Obi’s mega project plan in the once sleepy community.
“Let me use this opportunity to put things in proper perspective. For a long time, government at all levels – federal, state, and local councils – have never considered us. They never cared about us. There is nothing to show that we are a part of the federation or the state.
“The local government council at Umuneke which ought to be the closest to us, therefore expected to understand our problems and needs, functions as if Amala and Ntu are not integral parts of the Local Government Area administration.
“Therefore, if it takes Ebuka Obi and his Zion Ministry, to bring development to our enclave, so be it. Just last Christmas, I purchases four plots of land here at N100, 000 each. Today, because of the arrival of Ebuka Obi to our town, a plot of land now goes for N6m! Is not development”?, he narrated.
Okere added: “You must have heard the multi-million business and economic dimension to the entire episode. I mean the social, educational, economic as well as spots and arts facilities that are accompanying the Zion Ministry’s establishment here.
” It means there will be employment opportunities, security enhancement, and other infrastructural development like good roads, street lights, healthcare delivery, and general orderliness. Most importantly, there will be revenue generation for us as a community, for the council, and state government as well. We are happy and appreciate it all”.
He, however, frowned at what initially looked like a shoddy deal suspected aimed at exploiting his people of Amala -Ntu over the coming of Zion Ministry as it concerned acquisitions of land and transfer of ownership.
“Initially, there were some bad eggs who were among the middlemen between the Imo State Government and Ebuka Obi on one hand and Amala, Ntu community at the other end. Those land speculators behaved in a way that provoked the people and there were murmurings that the government was poised to give Ebuka Obi our parcels of land. That problem is resolved and the method of compensation payment was resolved “, he explained.
Following Ebuka Obi’s establishment of his Zion Ministry at Amala, Ngor Okpala has, once more achieved another milestone, sustaining its notable feats in hallmark of achievements.
It is on record that the biggest Federal Government investment in Imo State, the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport, is located in Ngor Okpala. The man who first launched the idea of a private university in Nigeria, the late Chief Nnanna Ukegbu, hailed from Ngor Okpala. Again, the musician, Ferdinand Opara, who formed the musical group, Oriental Brothers International, that brought succour to Ndigbo after the gruesome Nigeria – Biafra civil war, is a scion of Ngor Okpala.
One of the known faces of global women’s football, and the lady who took both Nigerian and African women’s football by storm, Perpetua Nkwocha is Ngor Okpala. And when you consider the fact that Ngor Okpala is the only local government in Imo State that has boundaries with two oil-producing states of Abia and Rivers, then, you will most certainly commend Ebuka Obi’s vision of heading for the area for the establishment of the Zion Ministry.
As an anonymous villager summed it up, the Ebuka Obi intervention will mark a drastic change towards the way things are done in Ngor Okpala. According to him, “Ebuka Obi has joined people like Fr Emma Ede of Elele fame, Rivers State, Fr Ejike Mbaka of AMEN, Enugu, E – Dey Work Ministry of Ezinihitte Mbaise, Imo State., Prof Gregory Ibeh of Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State, Godfrey Okere University, Enugu., Innoson Motors, Nnewi and few other entrepreneurs to heeding our people’s clarion call on the importance of Ndigbo bringing their businesses back home.
