A peep into my stewardship as Minister of State for Budget and National Planning- Prince Clem Ikanade Agba

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

BY

HIS EMINENCE, ELDER CLEM IKANADE AGBA, CON IMMEDIATE PAST HONOURABLE MINISTER OF STATE FOR BUDGET AND NATIONAL PLANNING

AT THE

GRAND LAUNCH OF THE ESOCS CENTENARY ENDOWMENT FUND

MUSON CENTRE, RACE COURSE, 8/9 MARINA, ONIKAN-LAGOS SATURDAY, 10TH JUNE, 2023

Protocols

It gives me great pleasure to be here with you today on this auspicious occasion of the ‘Grand Launch of the Eternal Sacred Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim (ESOCS) Centenary Endowment Fund’ which is part of the programmed activities for the centennial celebration of the Cherubim & Seraphim Church Worldwide, 1925-2025. This landmark event is preparatory to the establishment of the foundation for an investible sovereign fund by the Church with a vision to advocate, encourage and propel the growth and development of the ESOCS Church given emerging global uncertainties.

2. I am truly and particularly honoured, to be standing here as the Keynote Speaker and would like to express my profound gratitude first to the Almighty God for His infinite mercies upon me, then to His Most Eminence, Baba Aladura Dr. David D.L. Bob-Manuel (Moses Orimolade IX & Prelate of ESOCS Worldwide

and indeed, the Advisory Board of the Holy Order for initiating this novel ESOCS Centenary Endowment Fund (ECEF).

3. The centennial celebration programme themed ‘Achieving Institutional Excellence and Pursuing Development through Planning, Budgeting and Sustainable Funding’, is germane and consistent with the growth agenda of the Church and our country. The pursuit of institutional excellence through a framework for sustainable funding and planning is a worthwhile commitment involving many dedicated stakeholders aligned by a common vision of continuous improvement and institutional effectiveness of the church.

4. It is a statement of fact that different Institutions (both public and private) the world over, are currently facing challenging and complex financial and economic situations with growing stress on growth and sustainability. Institutions

therefore, rely on strategic planning, budgeting, performance measurement, internal/external controls, oversight (monitoring and evaluation), communication, and regulatory compliance to ensure effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery or meeting set objectives and achieving institutional excellence which inter-alia include:
(i) Ensuring transparency of the funding system;

(ii) Institutionalizing performance-based management;

(iii) Ensuring cost efficiency in service/project or programme delivery;

(iv) Catering to the needs of different institutional profiles;

(v) Strengthening quality assurance;

(vi) Ensuring institutional autonomy; and

(vii) Developing a strategic approach towards strategic planning, budgeting, performance measurement, internal/external controls, oversight (Monitoring and evaluation), communication, etc

5. His Most Eminence, Advisory Board Members, Excellencies, Captains of Industries, Distinguished Personalities, Ladies and Gentlemen, the ESOCS Centenary Endowment Fund (ECEF) is the foremost professional endowment cum investible sovereign fund set up by the Church with a world class vision to navigate through acute poverty, deprivations among others, and guarantee a secured future for the ESOCS Church at summer and winter times. Thus, this is the time to invest for the future of the Holy Order to hedge against challenging times.

6. Without any iota of doubt, this is the auspicious time to institutionalize ESOCS Centenary Endowment Fund. With strong leadership and enthusiastic support from stakeholders, the chances for success are very high. In order to sustain the current momentum, it has become exceedingly necessary to get more people on board to key into this vision. Every member of this

Church has a role to play in this regard to achieve the intended objective.

7. It is incumbent on me to state that the primary business of the church is to propagate the gospel of Jesus Christ, and this is underpinned on investment in evangelism and outreach to the unchurched. Jesus Christ ordered the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 ‘Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ It is expected that a greater chunk of the proceeds from the ESOCS Centenary Endowment Fund will be dedicated to evangelism and church planting. Deliberate and strategic planning and investment in evangelism is primary to

the growth and relevance of the ESOCS church. At the end of our time, God will not ask us how much money we were able to generate, but how many people we were able to win for His kingdom.

8. It is also instructive to apprise this august gathering of beloved children of God that endowment gifts demonstrate one’s belief that we are never ultimately proprietors, owners, but only stewards, lifetime guardians entrusted by God to use wisely what God has placed in our hands. Such gifts and donations, declares to the present and future generations the importance of our faith and trust in God. We have each drawn water from the wells we have not dug; we have sat under shades of trees we did not plant and we each have a wonderful opportunity to provide the means for the Church to have a strong and empowering Ministry for posterity and generations to come.

9. Passages in the Holy Bible give credence to the importance of the foundation we are laying today. For instance,
Matthew 2:11b – “Opening their treasures, they offered him gifts…” Read this passage in the third person, then in the first person. Endowment gifts usually come from treasures, our accumulated assets. Also,

Genesis 26:17-25 – “And Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of Abraham his father…” Leave something behind which is better than what you found.

10. I am confident that this ESOCS Centenary Endowment Fund will enable effective endowment management for our Churches, Provinces, Schools, and Church-related Organizations who seek to honour the past and build the future. It will support developing structures, enabling investment, and generating growth.

11. In drawing inspiration from Proverbs 29:18 which says “where there is no vision, the people perish,” would you give money to a cause not knowing how it would be spent? Most people give to causes that affirm their cherished values, but donors are more likely to give when they know an Organization will use their gift wisely … and believe the gift will make a difference. Churches face increasing competition for the time, attention, and money of their Parishioners. Donors who care will give when they are moved by your mission, understand your plans, and trust you. As such, as leaders we must ensure that we utilize these funds for the primary work of the Kingdom and what we have avowed that they will be used for.

12. While endowment giving requires a special kind of trust, it is not a rainy day Fund. Some Churches may occasionally use it to supplement their annual operating budget. Such use to shore up budget shortfalls may be misperceived by potential donors

and diminishes the purpose of having an endowment. Successful endowment programmes, those that make an impact and intended to last in perpetuity, are created where there is consensus and congruence in implementing the short- and long- term goals for the endowment. When the vision and purpose of the endowment are well-communicated and understood not only by the endowment committee but also by the whole church community, it creates engagement.

13. His Most Eminence, Advisory Board Members, Excellencies, Captains of Industries, Distinguished Personalities, Ladies and Gentlemen, in creating a healthy Endowment Fund that inspires giving, we must develop a vision for it, establish a clear purpose for each specific Fund, create effective oversight and talk about what the endowment makes possible. In this regard, there are four keys issues to consider in achieving institutional excellence in the establishment of the Fund. First is the development of a

long range Plan that involves critical stakeholders and consistent planning. Developing a participatory and collaborative effective planning is essential and a sine-qua-non for ownership by stakeholders in actualizing the vision and objective of the
ESOCS Centenary Endowment Fund.

14. Second, a Plan without a budget has little chance of success and great ideas need resources to materialize. Once we have stakeholders collaborating to boost the growth of the Eternal Sacred Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, we need the support of a budget to bring our objectives to life. Budgeting in-line with the strategic plan guarantees that the Plan is funded for efficient execution.

15. Third, is the need to assess our results and use them for improvement of the project. What is not monitored and assessed is not done. It is therefore, important for continuous monitoring

to assess the effectiveness of implementation. The path to institutional excellence is a circular one where assessment results are evaluated to improve on implementation for better outcomes.

16. Fourth and the last, is getting the right people on board to handle the ECOCS Centenary Endowment Fund. Competence is a critical part of institutional excellence because the core mission is to have a sustainable endowment Fund for the Church. In order for this to happen, the Fund Managers must have the requisite knowledge, experience, and credentials to drive this course.

17. The four ingredients just enumerated above greatly enhanced the success story of my tenureship as Honourable Minister of State for Budget and National Planning. I was responsible for developing medium and long term plans for the

growth and development of our country Nigeria. The Plans contain the vision, mission, objectives and strategies for growing and developing our country. This also involves developing a framework and mechanism for executing the Plans, providing a strong oversight through having a robust monitoring and evaluation framework.

18. A summary of some of the things we achieved and to keep our citizens abreast of Government activities while in Government include the following:
i. Hosting of a high-level roundtable to discuss government’s programmes and policies to get feedback. It is usually an opportunity to discuss with CSO leaders, donors, bilateral partners and citizens to gather useful feedback;
ii. Continuation of effort to rebuild trust and ensure transparency, we began publishing all payments above a certain threshold on the Open Treasury Portal;

iii. Increased monitoring and evaluation process to ensure that we are not only getting value for the money but that we are also strategic in resource allocation;
iv. Development of EyeMark app to sustain the monitoring and evaluation process and allow citizens to also provide feedback, a web application that will allow citizens to report progress on Government projects by simply using an online application that is GPS enabled to take pictures with date and timestamp was built. The application is also designed to point to challenges with Government’s projects and for geotagging them. There is the iMonitor Platform on the Budget Office website for citizens to provide feedback to the Government on the budget, as well; and
v. Reversion to predictable regular budget calendar. The Federal Government of Nigeria has now achieved a standardized budgetary calendar (January – December Budget Cycle).

19. To remain competitive, we developed a Medium and Long Term National Development Plan that serves as a road map for economic and social transformation of the country. Nigeria Agenda (NA) 2050 is a Perspective Plan designed to transform the country into an “Upper-Middle Income Country”, with a significant improvement in per capita income. The Plan aims to fully engage all resources, reduce poverty, achieve social and economic stability. It also targets developing a mechanism for achieving a sustainable environment consistent with global concerns about climate change. The Plan therefore, presents the road map for accelerated, sustained and broad-based growth and provides broad frameworks for reducing unemployment, poverty, inequality, and human deprivation. Ensure linkage between perspective plan, medium-term plans and the annual budgets. The Nigeria Agenda 2050 is poised to integrate the Global & Regional Commitments namely: Addis Ababa Action Agenda (African Union), Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations), Paris Declaration on Climate Change etc. Importantly, the Nigeria Agenda 2050 will be implemented through six Medium Term Plans : NDP (2021-2025) (already developed, published and subsequent National Development Plans covering (2026-2030), (2031-2035), (2036-2040), (2041- 2045), and (2046-2050).

20. His Most Eminence, Advisory Board members, Excellencies, Captain of Industries, Distinguished Personalities, Ladies and Gentlemen, before rounding up my address, let me plead with us all that as members of Eternal Sacred Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim, we should bring our wealth of experience from

both the private and public sectors to bear to ensure that the ESOCS Centenary Endowment Fund (ECEF) is a huge success. As a child of destiny who cheated death at the tender age of eleven when I was poisoned, I promise to give my all to the service of God, humanity and ensure I walk the talk as a member of the church,

21. At this juncture, I like to express my sincere gratitude to the ESOCS Church for its untiring effort in the propagation of gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of God and the growth and development of His Church. I also want to acknowledge God Almighty and His grace upon my life and the benevolence of the immediate past President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, for appointing me as part of his Cabinet. Therefore, I thank the Almighty God, Mr. President, and my

lovely wife, Mother-In-Israel Catherine Orobosa Agba and entire family who have always supported me.

22. In conclusion, His Most Eminence, Advisory Board Members, Excellencies, Captains of Industries, Distinguished Personalities, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to make a clarion call to individuals, groups, organisations and as a Church at large, to make concerted efforts to ensure the viability and sustainability of the ESOC Centenary Endowment Fund (ECEF) being launched today. It is my prayer that you will experience Open Heavens as you have graced this event and sown generously towards this noble and novel cause for the growth and development of the Church and advancement of the work of God’s kingdom. Remember, God loves a cheerful giver. So cheerfully give and generously so and receive God’s abundant Grace, Mercies and Favour.

23. I thank you all for your kind attention and God bless.