Senior Pastor of House on the Rock Church, Paul Adefarasin, has sparked reactions online after making blunt comments about Nigeria’s economy during a sermon delivered on May 17.
While addressing members of his congregation, the clergyman lamented the current economic condition of the country, stating that Nigerians should stop deceiving themselves about the reality of the situation.
“Nigeria is dead, let’s not deceive ourselves. Once you are counting in naira, you are poor,” he said.
Pastor Adefarasin also reflected on the economic value of the naira decades ago, revealing that his father earned about ₦18,000 in the 1980s and early 1990s, which he described as significant wealth at the time.
According to him, many Nigerians today fail to understand how drastically the value of the naira has declined over the years because they focus only on present realities without studying history or economic data.
He further noted that a billion naira in previous decades carried enormous global value compared to what it represents today.
The sermon has since triggered conversations across social media, with many Nigerians debating the country’s economic decline, inflation and the falling value of the naira.