PPJ holds public presentation of Year 1, 2 reports

The Priest Peace and Justice Initiative, the social arm of the Palace of Priest Assembly, is holding a public presentation of its Year 1 and 2 reports.

The presentation will hold virtually on February 17, 2021 at the PPA Auditorium in Abuja.

A statement by the Programme Manager, Tive Denedo, said the objective of the presentation was to officially present the graphic and picturesque chronicle of the implementation of the Shun Corruption project in the first two years of work engaging with organisations like the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria to change collective norms and with individual pastors and other Church leaders and workers to alter attitudes, behaviours and perceptions towards the issues of corruption, social justice and political participation in Nigeria.

The two reports also highlight the organisation’s mission, vision and values and how those important cornerstones kept the organisation in line to meet the expectations of the organisation’s stakeholders, including the Catherine D. and John T. MacArthur Foundation, which provided the funding required to push through in the first two years and the next phase of the programme.

Denedo said presenting the two reports is also a way of celebrating the victories the organisation had in the numerous collaborations across the six geopolitical zones of the country in the two years that Church leaders and workers reviewed their thinking and beliefs about the issues of the fight against corruption, engaging in political participation and adding their voices to raising their concerns about social injustice in the country.

According to him, the two years marked the beginning of a new direction for the Pentecostal community in Nigeria where they did not only make history by marching on the streets of the nation to raise their voices against corruption, but they were also for first the first time involved in election observation as well as take the initiative to establish social arms for Churches as a way of adding their voices to the campaign for social justice in Nigeria.

He said these are achievements worthy of celebration “although we are not rolling out the drums but PPJ is using the public presentation of the two reports as a way of expressing gratitude and appreciation to everyone who contributed to making the first two years meaningful and worthy for the shun corruption project”.

Denedo said there are numerous Pentecostal Church leaders and workers who used the three S Model to shun corruption, speak against corruption and stand against corruption even when confronted with the consequences of their actions.

There are equally others whose success stories may not have been captured but because they participated, they are worthy of being celebrated.

Denedo said: “They are the anti-corruption champions within the fold of the Pentecostal Church which was the primary target of the PPJ led shun corruption project. PPJ is immensely grateful because without them there would have been no meetings and there would have been no report.

“Many have taken the anchor scripture of James 4:17 and were able to run with it and produce results.

“Their support will remain indelible in the pages of these reports.”