‘At SPAC Nation, We Do More of Giving, Youth Empowerment Than Receiving’

Pastor Tobi Adegboyega, the Lead Pastor of SPAC Nation London ,recently spoke with Editors of electronic media on his concern for youths in the United Kingdom and their counterparts in Africa. He disclosed his three pronged programmes to deliver them from poverty. The 38 year old Pastor said that unemployment in Nigeria would be fought by his ministry and crime would be checkmated as he has done in London.

How has SPAC been faring in this United Kingdom?
To God be the glory.We have been well reported in both the print and electronic media. That confirmed that God has been helping to do some things right.There was a young man who was in the prison for three years.With God’s intervention ,we have been able to repackage his life,his life has been positively turned around now.He not only owns his own business but also an employer of labour.
We have mentored many people ,the youths so say who are doing well in various areas of human endeavours.

Can you expantiate a little more on this?
Yes .One of them has an employment agency which has given jobs to over 100 people. We also have a lady who is involved in the businesses of fashion accessories.If your products get the approval of the Queen of England it means you have done something of the very highest quality.

What differentiate you from Churches?
Thank you. At SPAC Nation ,we do more of giving than receiving.We are not a Church that focuses on tithe and offerings. We focus more on giving back to our communities through human capital development.

How has your work been appreciated by the UK Government?
How much they appreciate what we do is not what I can physically lay my hands on but we have been to Downing Street and Scotland Yard to meet with the Prime Minister and the Metropolitan Police at different times. These visits have been in personal capacity and as a group at different times. We have also met with the Mayor several times to proffer solutions to youth violence and its underlying causes. We have had the Police visit our services to take possession of weapons willingly handed over to us by reformed youths. Indeed, we have had collaborations as we aim for crime reduction to an almost zero level in notorious parts of London.

Can we have a few testimonies from these fantastic activities of SPAC Nation?
We create businesses. My first job was a kitchen job which paid me 400 pounds a month. It was from this that I sought to empower the people around me, meeting their needs as little as I could. As time went on, I got into property business with a friend. We later came up with other innovations and we have been giving back to help raise other people too. We have over 40 people in businesses who have also come back to help their communities. Many of our people give back with the mind to also lift others like we have done. With something like this in place, there is always a pool where we can draw to help people reach their destined heights.

Are you in touch with any government?
I always say that government has enough problems already in a country like Nigeria. We want to create a micro-economy to help the government. We want to bring funds into the Nigerian economy without bothering the government. Instead of being a burden, we want to help the government.

How?
I have friends who believe in our laid-out plans and we will be visiting Nigeria soon so as to have a first-hand experience of what is obtainable. We will be coming to empower brilliant people to be socially mobile. We intend to do all these without having the government bother about committing resources. All we need is an enabling environment.

Can you tell us about your marital life?
(laughs) Very well. I am married to a Nigerian. We met while in the University in Nigeria. To the glory of God, we have kids who identify with our Nigerian roots. In fact, our first daughter loves amala and okro soup very well. God has helped us to be able to balance African values with living in the United Kingdom.

Do you speak any Nigerian language?
I grew up in Ibadan and I speak flawless Yoruba. Unfortunately, I could not geographically explore other parts of Nigeria enough before leaving the country.

What is the main focus of your ministry?

I have three main focuses when it comes to youths most of who are unemployed.Our emphasis lays squarely on addressing their problems on job creation,security and creating educational opportunities for them.Over the years in the United Kingdom, we have created hundreds of job by raising funds for young people have ideas but lack capital.I have said this at different fora.We have been able to connect those who have funds to those who need them to ) business and the result has more than 40 business created.In a system as regulated as UK,that is a near
impossibility but we created a business hub for many young people to learn and be mentored before any investment is put in to them.

Thanks for your time Pastor Tobi
Thank you for having us, and identifying with what God is ready to do through SPAC Nation
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