by Ibrahim Bunu
The awards presented during the Golden Jubilee provided an opportunity to recognize prominent Nigerians whose contributions were associated with faith, public service and national development.
Among those reported to have received the Pillar of Faith Award were General Yakubu Gowon (retd.), Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and Professor Yemi Osinbajo. The event honored Senator Oluremi Tinubu, while other reported recipients included Senator George Akume, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Dr Benjamin Kalu, and several state governors. Published reports describe the First Lady’s recognition as a Christian Icon Award in some coverage and an Award of Excellence in another; the official award register should be consulted to confirm the exact title. https://guardian.ng/news/50th-anniversary-can-honours-obasanjo-jonathan-remi-tinubu-others/ https://www.tvcnews.tv/oluremi-tinubu-unveils-can-history-book-as-association-celebrates-50th-anniversary/
These recognitions deserve to be understood within a broader conversation about the relationship between faith and public responsibility.
An award is not simply a decoration. At its best, it is a public statement about the values an institution wants to preserve, the examples it wants to acknowledge, and the standards it hopes future generations will uphold.
That makes selecting awardees an important responsibility.
Recognition should celebrate service, but it should also communicate standards.
The Church should encourage a culture that gives sustained recognition to integrity, compassion, intellectual contribution, community service, justice, and responsible leadership. Such recognition should not be confined to individuals who hold prominent political offices or enjoy national visibility.
Teachers in underserved communities, doctors serving vulnerable populations, missionaries in difficult environments, Christian professionals mentoring young people, women building community support networks, peacebuilders mediating conflicts, and young innovators creating employment also contribute to Nigeria’s moral and social fabric.
Their work may not always attract national headlines, but its importance should not be underestimated.
CAN should therefore consider establishing a transparent and permanent national recognition framework that includes:
* Excellence in public service: Recognition for demonstrable integrity, responsible leadership and service to the public.
* Humanitarian intervention: Recognition for sustained assistance to displaced persons, vulnerable families, children and communities affected by emergencies.
* Peacebuilding and interfaith cooperation: Recognition for practical contributions to peaceful coexistence, conflict prevention and community reconciliation.
* Education and intellectual development: Recognition for research, teaching, scholarship, innovation and the development of future leaders.
* Youth and women leadership: Recognition for individuals who expand opportunities, build institutions and mentor others.
* Ethical business and employment creation: Recognition for responsible enterprise, fair employment practices and contributions to local economic development.
* Service in underserved communities: Recognition for individuals and institutions whose contributions may be substantial but whose visibility is limited.
Published criteria, verifiable achievements, conflict-of-interest safeguards, and a transparent selection process must govern a credible award system.
It should not become a reward for proximity to power, an instrument of denominational patronage or a mechanism for purchasing goodwill.
The Church must also be prepared to distinguish between honoring an individual for a particular contribution and endorsing every policy or decision associated with that person’s public career.
An award recognizes a contribution; it should never place any recipient beyond accountability.
This is especially important when religious institutions engage political officeholders. The Church can appreciate government access, recognize service and maintain constructive relationships without surrendering its independent judgment.
The most enduring recognition CAN can give Nigeria is not the number of prominent personalities it honors. It is the strength of the values it upholds, the lives it improves and the institutions it leaves behind.
THE MESSAGE OF THE PRINCIPAL SPEAKERS: FROM WORDS TO INSTITUTIONAL ACTION
The Golden Jubilee’s public messages provide a useful starting point for the reforms that should follow.
The anniversary coverage and CAN’s wider Jubilee Colloquium highlighted unity, prophetic governance, protection of vulnerable citizens, constitutionalism, justice and the common good. These were not merely ceremonial themes. They point towards the practical responsibilities of a national Christian institution. https://punchng.com/oluremi-tinubu-seeks-christian-unity-as-can-honours-obasanjo-gowon-others-at-50/ https://christianassociationofnigeria.org/can-50-church-leaders-call-for-prophetic-governance-protection-of-vulnerable-and-cohesion-at-jubilee-colloquium/
Archbishop Daniel Okoh: The Church must retain its prophetic voice
As President of CAN, Archbishop Daniel Okoh emphasized the Church’s responsibility to defend human dignity, speak out against injustice and insecurity, and engage government without becoming politically captured.
This position requires a delicate balance.
A Church that refuses to engage government may surrender opportunities to contribute to policy and protect vulnerable people. A Church that becomes dependent on political power may lose the independence required to challenge injustice.
The appropriate relationship is one of principled engagement.
CAN should cooperate with government when it advances the common good, recognize policies that produce demonstrable benefits, and challenge actions that undermine constitutional rights, public welfare, or human dignity.
But moral criticism must be evidence-based.
The association should develop professional policy and public-affairs capacity to examine legislation, public budgets, security trends, education policy, economic reforms, and social programs. It should issue clear assessments that distinguish facts from allegations, interpretation, and institutional opinion.
This would strengthen its credibility with government, civil society, the media and the wider public.
The Church should not have to choose between prayer and policy analysis. Both have their proper place.
Senator Oluremi Tinubu: Unity must become a practical discipline
The First Lady’s appeal for Christian unity, tied to the anniversary theme, Walking Together in Faith, raises a fundamental question: what does unity look like after the celebration ends?
It must be visible in how denominations consult one another, resolve disagreements, share responsibilities, and support common causes.
Unity cannot depend entirely on the personalities in leadership positions at a particular moment; it depends on institutional rules, reliable communication, and a culture of mutual respect.
CAN should strengthen its capacity to bring denominational leaders together before disagreements become public crises. It should develop agreed procedures for resolving disputes, clarify the responsibilities of its constituent blocs, and create regular platforms for consultation across theological and organizational boundaries.
The goal is not to suppress legitimate differences. It is to prevent those differences from destroying the capacity for collective action.
Senator George Akume and the responsibility of public service
Senator George Akume’s remarks at the anniversary drew attention to integrity, compassion, sacrifice, and the responsibility attached to public office.
These principles deserve to be carried into the Church’s own institutional life.
Christian institutions should be judged not only by the messages they preach but also by how they administer funds, employ staff, protect vulnerable people, manage disagreements and account for decisions.
Church leadership must model the standards it asks of government.
Financial transparency, responsible stewardship, safeguarding policies, ethical procurement, proper recordkeeping and credible complaint mechanisms are not distractions from spiritual work. They are practical expressions of institutional responsibility.
The Church cannot demand accountability from public institutions while treating its own governance as beyond scrutiny.
The enduring lesson is that moral authority must be demonstrated through conduct.
The anniversary’s historical reflections and the unveiling of Walking Together in Faith also underline the importance of institutional memory. A community that does not document its achievements, disagreements, sacrifices, and failures risks forcing each new generation to start without the benefit of experience.
CAN should preserve speeches, resolutions, policy positions, historical records, oral histories and accounts of humanitarian work in a professionally managed archive accessible to researchers, students and future Christian leaders.
The next generation should inherit more than photographs of distinguished personalities. It should inherit a clear record of what the Church attempted, what it achieved, what it learned and what remains unfinished.
THE UNITY QUESTION: WHY THE CHURCH MUST LOOK BEYOND DENOMINATIONAL BOUNDARIES
One of the greatest challenges facing a broad religious association is the temptation to mistake organizational size for collective strength.
Nigeria has an extensive Christian institutional landscape. Churches operate educational institutions, health facilities, charities, youth networks, professional fellowships and community development initiatives. These institutions represent considerable human capacity.
Yet they are not automatically realized.
A congregation may have a strong youth ministry but no structured connection to employment opportunities. A Christian university may produce skilled graduates without a national mentoring network to help them enter professional life. A denomination may do extensive humanitarian work without a mechanism to share lessons with other organizations. Christian professionals may hold important positions without a coordinated platform to mentor young people or contribute their expertise to public policy.
These are not claims that every church or denomination suffers from the same deficiencies. They are institutional gaps that CAN should investigate, where evidence supports them, and address through voluntary cooperation.
The association should begin by identifying what already works well. It should not build new bureaucracies simply because an anniversary creates an appetite for reform.
The priority should be to connect existing strengths, remove unnecessary duplication and establish common platforms where cooperation adds measurable value.
CAN could facilitate a national network linking churches, Christian educational institutions, health providers, humanitarian organizations, professional associations and community development groups.
Such a network could support:
* Shared humanitarian coordination: A common framework for identifying needs, mobilizing assistance and reducing duplication during emergencies.
* Educational partnerships: Scholarships, vocational training, digital learning and academic mentorship across denominational boundaries.
* Professional mentoring: Voluntary networks linking experienced lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers, civil servants, entrepreneurs and other professionals with young people.
* Peacebuilding: Structured dialogue among Christian communities and with Muslim and traditional leaders where appropriate.
* Research and policy engagement: A platform through which credible expertise can inform public submissions, legislative engagement and national development proposals.
* Responsible communication: Coordinated public information that is accurate, timely, and careful not to inflame tensions.
* Youth development: Leadership training, civic education, entrepreneurship support and opportunities for young people to contribute to institutional decision-making.
The framework must respect the autonomy of participating churches. No denomination should be compelled to surrender its identity or internal governance to participate in common projects.
CAN’s role should be to facilitate cooperation, not centralize every activity.
The association must also guard against unity becoming a slogan used to silence legitimate criticism. A member church should be able to raise concerns about governance, representation, finance or institutional priorities without being treated as an enemy of the Christian community.
Genuine unity is not the absence of disagreement. It is a credible process for managing disagreement without destroying the shared mission.
The Church should be able to disagree internally and still act together on religious freedom, humanitarian protection, education, peace, responsible governance, and the dignity of every human being.
That is the standard the next fifty years should demand.
Ibrahim Bunu ibrahimbunu2520@gmail.com
