Chidiebere Joshua Talking Point

12/09/2025

07/12/2023

On behalf of the government and the people of Lagos State, we join family, friends, associates, and the entire congregation of Christ Embassy to felicitate with Pastor Chris Oyakhilome on his Diamond Jubilee Celebration.

Pastor Chris Oyakhilome has been a blessing, not just to members of his church but to millions of Lagos residents, who have benefited from his ministry and philanthropic gestures. We also appreciate his unceasing prayers and wise counsel over the years.

As Pastor Chris Oyakhilome celebrates his 60th birthday today, I pray that the Almighty God will grant him good health to enable him to render more service to humanity and God's kingdom.

07/12/2023

You have touched countless lives with the power of God's word and you are a testament to the transforming power of faith.

Happy Birthday, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome!

19/10/2023

Dear ,

Thank you for your feedback. It has nothing to do with genetics or DNA. If you are talking about genetics or DNA, Igbos probably have an edge. They tend to be bigger in size than other Nigerian ethnicities and are innately more intelligent, as well as driven. Also, they do have a slight edge over others in comeliness, with the exception of the Fulani.

Get rid of such thinking from your mentality. Igbo stock is one of the most desirable in Nigeria in terms of physique and other outward features.

What you complain about is a cultural thing. While the Yorubas have a conservative culture and moral values centred around Omoluabi to restrain them, and the North, especially the core North, have a conservative religion, in Islam, to restrain them, Igbo culture has no such restraints.

Their culture is very individualistic and, unfortunately, largely money-centred and male-dominated. For example, the authentic father of a child in their culture is not the man who impregnated the woman but the man who pays her rather costly bride price. And if no man pays it, the children belong to her father.

Women traditionally do not inherit in their culture, unlike Yoruba culture and Islam, which fairly guides inheritance without leaving room for controversy. If you look at lawsuits over inheritance in Nigerian probate courts, you will learn a thing or two about individual Nigerian cultures.

A man's worth in their culture comes from his material wealth and accomplishments, not his age or character. As such, where the Yoruba and Hausa or Fulani will respect age, they respect wealth.

Finally, they have never had central authority. They are republican egalitarians who exist in autonomous villages that did not even have kings until the British forced warrant chiefs on them. So, respect for authority is a recent phenomenon with them, unlike the Yoruba, who have had the Ooni of Ife as a central authority for at least 1350 years (the age of the oldest Ife Bronze statue of an Ooni).

Thanks again, and may God bless you.

19/10/2023

One of the worst things you can do is allow your friends who japa'ed to entice you to also japa because of the rosy picture they paint. One of the first things that will happen is that their attitude will change if you actually make it to the country they are in.

First of all, they stop taking your call once they know you have landed. They never really expected you to get that visa. Why? They are afraid you will come and stay with them. Secondly, they will avoid you because the picture they painted was a bit exaggerated, and the truth will embarrass them.

Immigrants who enjoy Europe and America are those who are independently wealthy. Those who make money from a business that does not require their physical presence 9-5. Or those with intellectual property, e-commerce, or monetised social media that brings money. Or old money from Nigeria.

The rest are running the rat race. Working two jobs. 9-5, five days a week on one job, evenings or the weekends on the other job. Without those jobs, all they flaunt, including house, car, and even phones, will be repossessed by banks if they miss three consecutive payments. No sorry. No, please. No, I beg! You don't don't pay, you don't stay. Period!

If you own a bungalow in Lugbe in the FCT, or a flat at Oworonshoki, Lagos, you are better than many of the japa people you see on social media, whose lives are mortgaged to the hilt. Not everything that glitters abroad is gold.

And the worst part is the loneliness abroad. Oyinbo may be a bit friendly to you, depending on where you live and how you act. Your fellow Blacks are less likely to. The Nigerians you meet will look at you 'one kind' if you try to be warm towards them, because they are either self hating, or think you have an agenda.

This is not to say don't japa. Do relocate. But don't relocate hoping to replicate a life that is a facade.