The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, on Sunday narrated how he came from a very poor background.

In his Christmas message to his congregation, Adeboye recalled that while growing up, his parents were so poor that he had no shoes for the first 18 years of his life.

The revered cleric spoke during a sermon on Saturday themed ‘Perfect Gift’, aired live on his Facebook page and monitored by Channels Television.

Speaking about how things would change for the better for people who have accepted Christ, the RCCG cleric used himself as an example. He illustrated how God can change the poor into the rich.

“Those of you who knew a little bit about my background, you will know that when they say something is from a rocky start, that means he started in serious poverty. My own rock was rock among rocks. My father was so poor, (that) poor people called him poor. The day he bought an umbrella, we were rejoicing,” Adeboye said.

“The elders have a saying. They say if there is hardship in the life of the husband, and hardship in the life of the wife, the hardship will rub off on the children.

“It rubbed off on me. For the first 18 years of my life, I had no pair of shoes. That is how things were and then I received Jesus Christ. Then things began to change, look at me today.

“Way back to 1969, I was a lecturer in the University of Lagos. A little problem came into my life, the problem that all my mathematics couldn’t solve and then somebody offered me, Jesus. I thank God today that my head didn’t refuse something good. So I accepted Jesus and everything in my life began to change for the better.”

Nigeria has the highest number of poor people in the world, after overtaking India in March 2022.

According to data by the World Poverty Clock, extremely poor people are those living on N800 per day (less than $2 per day).

In 2018, Nigeria held the position with about 87 million people in extreme poverty, compared with India’s 73 million.

However, the new data revealed that about 83 million Indians have been plunged into extreme poverty in 2022, representing six percent of the country’s population which stands at 1.3 billion.

For Nigeria, WPC said 70 million people are living in extreme poverty, representing 33 percent of Nigeria’s over 200 million people. (Channels TV)

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