In view of the poor state of prisons in the country and the bad living condition of inmates, Pastor of Golden City Assembly Int’l Church, Lagos, Sam Adeoye, has said his ministry will ensure complete turnaround of the prisons.
Adeoye, who stated this in an interview with our correspondent during a charity programme held recently by the church, said he was disappointed with the living condition prisoners were subjected to, owing to poor environment and welfare, stressing that his ministry would do everything necessary to ameliorate the situation.
The cleric also maintained that the ministry would ensure a new-beginning payment to any inmate worthy to be set free.
He said, for the released prisoners, adequate reform services would be provided, in order to enable them to be emotionally and mentally stable.
Adeoye said, “Recently, I watched on TV, the poor living conditions prisoners are subjected to and I said to myself, ‘I will be reaching out to inmates.’ In Golden City, I told my people: we are not going to have church branches; rather, our branches will be prisons, and we are not going there to preach but to renovate the prisons, give them air conditioners, kitchens and employ those that will be cooking the food every day.
“And if God gives us the enablement, we will put TV screens in the prisons and while the services are going on in church, they will be watching it. And then, every year, if government would allow us, prisoners that are worthy of being set free will be paid to start a new life. As far as I am concerned, till Jesus comes, I want to sustain this.”
Speaking on the charity programme, Adeoye, who admitted that many pastors were guilty of impoverishing their congregation, argued that the original setting of the church was “where everybody had all things equal”; noting that his ministry was established on the premise of giving out
to the poor.
He said, “In 2005, I was serving in a church in Abeokuta and God said, ‘Pastors are thieves; churches are robbers’. God said the system in churches today is such that makes one man rich and leaves others poor. The original setting of the church is where everybody will have all things equal and God led me to a part of the Bible that states, ‘They go from house to house, sharing bread, and they lacked nothing.’
“What happened today is something I had begun a long time ago, but in a bigger way. Since 1999 when I rented my first apartment at Ogba, Lagos, I had been having friends coming to my house to eat from morning to afternoon and evening. It is something I like doing. I like taking care of people.”
