President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated the N300 million Jubilee Resort and Leadership Centre built by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Abuja on Saturday.

Speaking at the ceremony, Jonathan urged the association to ensure that it used the centre to train future Nigerian leaders with strong moral and fiscal discipline.

“I am indeed happy that today we are talking about the leadership centre. The greatest asset of any society is leadership – from the family to business; from the church to the national level.

“I believe this centre will be used to model and mould leaders, especially those Christians, who are aspiring to be leaders at all levels in the church, in business, in the educational institutions, and of course in the political setting,” he said.

The president also said that Nigerians would always expect that if a Christian was governor of a state, there would be a difference.

“We expect that a Christian councilor who prays everyday will behave differently from the councilor who will go to the water front and throw eggs into the river,” Jonathan stated.

He said that sometimes Nigerians conducted themselves in an inappropriate manner “because whenever certain issues come up, especially things involving money, you see the way people behave and you begin to wonder if this person ever prays.

“I believe this centre will be used to help us to re-orientate us, to refocus those of us that – by the will of God and commitment of Nigerians – are holding various elective and appointive offices.

“These are offices that we should use to help the society, not to help ourselves; and I believe this centre will help us to achieve that, ” the president said.

Jonathan praised Christians for their unity of purpose in building the edifice and prayed that such unity should be extended to national affairs and governance.

He said: “To all Nigerians out there, I urge you to imbibe the spirit of unity and continue to work together for the good of the nation and nothing can stop us from building a Nigeria of our dream. CAN has done it in unity and has shown us that it is possible and I say that we all can do it.”

He also applauded the CAN executive and the building committee for their prudence in managing the resources donated for the construction of the edifice and expressed gratitude to those, who made contributions toward the project.

The president urged the association to make judicious use of the edifice so that the little income it would generate could be used to maintain it and the Ecumenical Centre.

Jonathan said that he was happy to be part of the foundation-laying and inauguration of the project and urged Nigerians to be focused in whatever tasks they were given for the benefit of others.

Speaking earlier, the CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, said that the building was built with funds donated by Christians and non-Christians and that most of the contractual work was done free of charge by professionals.

Oritsejafor said the project would be used to raise money for the association, and promised all those, who prayed and contributed toward its realisation that their efforts would not be in vain. (NAN)

•Photo shows CAN President

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