Today I saw God. In His awesomeness, in His Mangnificence, in His Glory reflected in the work of men who truly understand what it is to live with respect for His ways.

The first thing you hear about most of the new private universities in Nigeria is the rules. No Jeans, No Co-mingling between the genders, (in some cases) No Jewellery, No Short Skirts, No Pants for the female students, Strict segregation of the halls of residence so guys cannot visit the girls and vice versa. For me it’s a tale of restrictions on the very nature of university – in my eyes a refuge of freedom, of barely bridled youth, self-expression and experimentation; a carefree place where you can get away with levels of irresponsibility that you would never contemplate at any other point in your life. So imagine my horror when I heard about all the rules and restrictions; and hence I have always had reservations about them. But then, most of these schools were set up by churches, and so its understandable that they would want to set strict moral standards for their students. If you don’t like it, then you can take your chances with the public schools.

I consider the overwhelming majority of nigeria’s past and present leaders a bunch of greedy, rabid, degenerate, cannibalistic and selfish fools. Thus far, I have yet to be proved wrong, and I’m sure most people would agree. You need only pick up any of the newspapers on any given day to confirm the fact that we are a country being led by blind thieving idiots with no clue. Where are the fruit that we can show for the billions spent on power, housing, roads and sundry infrastructure?

Today I was proved wrong, and right about certain of the foregoing. I went to Covenant University in Otta to assist my dad in giving a careers presentation. My God!!! We travelled through bad roads, at one point Gunther (my gay, german body-builder, teutonic truck with the muscular presence) was wheels deep in mud as we drove past an uncompleted bridge on a road that was meant to connect two states of the federation, the road that actually leads to several border crossing points.

Then we got off that road, and drove past this compound. It was an oasis of calm in the middle of a chaotic wasteland. The fence was painted and the exterior was nicely laid out with plants. We had arrived at Canaan Land, home of Winners Chapel, the 50,000 seater auditorium and Covenant University. So far so good. We drove into the compound, past the church and into the school premises.

My jaw hit the ground.

The compound was beautigully laid out. There were plants and trees everywhere. Well laid out lawns were everywhere. And the buildings. I had expected tyo see a few poorly constructed buildings, in the manner of most things Nigerian. What they had there was emphatically NOT Nigerian. Not in any way. First of all, they had buildings to rival the oldest universities in Nigeria. Except that these were newer and in much better states of repair. There was space everywhere, and the presence of a visionary who had spared no expense to realise his dream.

We went in. they had stuff. They had well-furnished rooms and loads of space. Someone had spent good money there, and done it rather well. Tennis courts, basketball, football? Large buildings for lectures and faculty offices? Check. Teaching aids? Check. We met a handful of lecturers. They looked content. Everyone was at peace. They had generators humming. Air conditioners in the main rooms that we went into? Yezzir! Lecture rooms that looked like actual places for learning, rather than repositories for old worthless junk?

And then we entered the library. Computers and LAN points for laptops? Wireless LAN - albeit without internet connection in the networks I found (though they could have shut those down deliberately to prevent people browsing “unsuitable websites).” it was a huge complex, but it was equipped well above the standard I had ever seen in a nigerian university. We were taken to a small room in the library where the talk had been moved due to trouble with the generator in the architecture building. The air conditioners worked well throughout. They had a projector and other stuff ready for our use. They were organised.

Bishop Oyedepo is a man of God. He has taken the resources at his disposal and created something that anyone should be proud of. He has created a citadel of learning and executed it well, despite not having the resources that our governments have. He has created a legacy for whch people should thank him and honour him forever. He has shown that God does exist in some people. And when the public universities decay with neglect, Covenant University will demonstrate that good can come out of Nigeria still, that individuals and communities still exist with the conscience and presence of mind to serve humanity. Immortality beckons, in the most honest way. Even if the vision were not his originally, he has provided the means for it to become reality, and is that not the point?

What is the federal government budget for the universities? How much does each school get, and what do they do with the cash? How much does Winner’s Chapel have, to establish and run a university with? Bishop Oyedepo has done a wonderful thing and shown our leaders up. How much of their ill-gotten loot have they ever spent on the larger society, except in further pursuit of their own selfish ends? But one man proved that you can make a difference if you put your heart to it. If you truly worship God as you profess to, then it should show in the things you do. But our leaders loot and pillage in the name of God, and expect to be celebrated as messiahs.

Our country needs more men like Bishop Oyedepo. If there were more like him, the billions spent on power might have yielded some result. I have seen the handiwork of a great man, and it left me speechless. All I could do was praise God for the work that people have done in His name.