The General Secretary of The Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN), Rev. Dare Ajiboye, in this interview with Senior Correspondent, ARAMIDE OIKELOME, recounts his experience since he assumed office. He also spoke on some major national issues.
Ajiboye
How has it been since you assumed office as the General Secretary of The Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN)? Would you like to share your experience with us?
To the glory of God, I assumed office as the General Secretary of The Bible Society of Nigeria on August 1, 2013 following the retirement of the erstwhile General Secretary, Rev Dr. Fred Odutola, and my success at the interview conducted to replace him. As usual in the organisation, it has been work, work and more work, trying to keep alive our vision to achieve the widest possible effective distribution of the Holy Scripture by being the most cost effective Scripture publisher in Nigeria. All we do is to ensure that the Bible is available for Nigerians and also in their own languages. This involves a lot of travels, meetings and collaborative work and partnership with all the stakeholders. However, our God has been faithful.
Apart from the programmes and projects you inherited from your predecessor, would you like to tell us some of the other projects you have initiated?
Bible translation, which is one of our core functions, is time consuming and a long-term project. I inherited all our ongoing Bible translation projects. Since I took over, we have added two more. At the moment, we are working on 17 Bible translation/revision projects. Some of the languages being revised are Edo, Urhobo, Efik, Isoko, among others, while some of the new translations are: Kalabari, Okrika, Izon, among others. One of our new initiatives is to have a regional warehouse and Bible translation centre in Ibadan, Oyo State.
What would you say has been your greatest challenge in running the affairs of this organisation?
The greatest challenge in running the affairs of BSN is funding. It costs us a minimum of N30 million to complete a Bible translation project. Remember that we are a not-for-profit-making organisation. We have completed some Bible translation projects, but we have no funds for the final production so that they can be delivered to the speakers of those languages. Last year alone, we donated Bibles worth over N7.3 million to different categories of people, including people with visual disability, prisoners, among others. I am particularly happy because two prisoners have written to inform us that they repented after they received and read our Bibles. We have a programme called: “Meet Jesus in the Prison,” through which we give Bibles to inmates of various prisons in the country. If we have enough funding, it will be easier for us to fund our numerous translation projects so that Nigerians will have Bible in their mother tongues.
How do you raise funds for your projects?
We raise funds through membership and donations by, Churches, individuals and few corporate organisations. We have Bible-A-Month Club, where people donate as low as N500 a month for those who do not have Bible. It is over 15 years since we stopped receiving subvention from United Bible Societies on the ground that we have enough Christians in Nigeria that should be able to support our work. This is to enable them support other Bible Societies in countries that are not as blessed as Nigeria.
What is the average budget of BSN per annum?
If you check what it costs us to complete a Bible translation project and the number of our ongoing projects as I mentioned earlier, as well as payment of salary of our staff, you can guess what our average budget should be, but are we able to get such money is another big question. That is why we raise funds.
What does it take to translate the Bible into a local language? How many language Bibles do you have now?
It takes both human and material resources to translate the Bible into any Nigerian language. In terms of money, it costs a minimum of N30 million to complete a Bible translation project. A major challenge is the human resource. Since the death of our Translation Consultant, we have not been able to get a replacement. The person that came to our rescue from The United Bible Societies, based in Cameroun, died in April this year as we were preparing to dedicate Igede and Ebira Bibles in May this year. You need a consultant and at least two translators to work on a project. It takes at least 12 years to complete a translation, although we are yet to achieve that. Itsekiri Bible, for instance, took over 25 years. By the time it was dedicated in 2005 only one man, who had turned 80, out of all the people that started the work, was alive to witness the dedication, although he had become blind at that time. The Igede and Ebira Bibles that were dedicated May this year, took over 40 years each. With improvement in technology, we hope to achieve the 12 years target soon. So far, we have the complete Bible in 22 Nigerian languages.
What specific role do you think The Bible Society of Nigeria should play in national development?
By the time people have their Bibles, read them, inculcate Biblical values and become transformed, the speed with which our society will be developed will be unprecedented. What do I mean? A person transformed by the word of God will shun corruption, cultism, armed robbery, terrorism, kidnapping and many other social vices. Our mission is to meet the Scriptural needs of every Nigerian in general, Christian Churches and Confession in particular and to help people interact with the word of God. If we are able to achieve this, it will go a long way to support national development. Furthermore, there is no one single organisation in Nigeria contributing to the preservation of Nigerian languages and literacy in mother tongue like The Bible Society of Nigeria, through translation of Scriptures to local languages.
How do you measure the impact of your programmes on national life?
We do impact assessment of our programmes. We have a programme called: You Can Be Their Eyes (YCBTE). Through this programme, we donated two complete sets of Braille Bible to at least two schools for the blind in each state of the country, including Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Each Braille Bible, which comes in 37 volumes, costs N44,000. It was N77,000 until a foreign donor began to subsidise it for us. At the moment, we are giving those who have left school so that they can have personal copy at home. Testimonies from these people are overwhelming. I just told you a while ago that we received testimonies from repented prisoners. One of the recipients of our Braille Bible said that she used to look for somebody to read the Bible to her. but now, all she needs to do is to walk to where her Braille Bible is kept and read with her fingers on her own. We are able to make these donations through the support we receive from Nigerians. Interestingly, a kind hearted man was so touched that he donated his entire 70th birthday gift to BSN so as to give Braille Bible to the blind. An estimated 1.13 million Nigerians aged 40 and above are currently blind. These people have to relate with God and how can they effectively do that if they cannot have access to the word of God?
Considering the way and manner politics is run in Nigeria, would you say that Christian politicians have made any difference at all?
Let us differentiate between “Christian” by name and Christians. I have not seen much difference. The Bible calls Christians the light of the world. I would want them to really show that even in politics. I do not subscribe to the widely held notion that there is no morality in politics. Most so-called Christian politicians are not worth the salt or light they are to be. There is no difference between them and unbelievers in Nigerian politics.
How would you rate the present administration in the area of fighting corruption, combating insurgency, job creation and entrenching qualitative education?
Just like I said before, we need more than we are getting. We should stop paying lip service to fighting corruption, which is endemic now, from the family setting to national levels. How will you describe jail term of five years to petty thieves and soft landing for those stealing billions. The Bible says in Proverbs 29:7 “A good person knows the rights of the poor, but wicked people cannot understand such things” (GNB). The fight against insurgency is strategic and people should not just expect a cosmetic victory overnight.
The alleged $9.3million arms scandal has again brought Christianity in Nigeria into disrepute. What is your take on this?
I would rather not comment on this because I do not have accurate information of what exactly happened. A lot of things are being said and I would not comment based on that.
What specific role has The Bible Society of Nigeria played in supporting victims of insurgency in Nigeria?
It is part of our responsibility. We are always there to support with the word of God. When there was armoury explosion in Lagos in 2002, we gave Bibles to some of the victims. Victims of religious riots in the North were given Bibles in 2007 in Dutse, Jigawa State. Since this insurgency started, we have donated Bibles to some of the victims. Recently, we donated Bibles to the Nigerian Army to boost their spiritual strength in the fight against insurgency.
Would you like to tell us the working relationship between your organisation and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)?
First and foremost, we see The Bible Society of Nigeria as a servant of the Church because there cannot be any Church without the Bible. We make available the Bible for the church to win souls and sustain the faith of those who come to Christ. So, we serve the Church. We have cordial relationship with CAN, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and all the various Christian blocs. However, there is always room for improvement.
What are your plans and projections for the year ahead? What new things would you like to do as BSN Secretary before your tenure expires?
My plan and projections for the years ahead is to translate as many Bible in Nigerian languages as possible. There are 500 languages in Nigeria. I would also like Nigerians to imbibe the culture of reading the Bible every day.
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