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Bishop Aniefiok Jacob
Nigerian-born Bishop Aniefiok Jacob is from Akwa Ibom State. He has a strong passion for the Word of God and loves to assist people with economic empowerment. He is the President and Founder of Christ Ambassadors Ministries International in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States of America. He is also the Founder and President of Coins Against Hunger, an outreach and non-profit organization aimed of feeding the hungry all over the world. Bishop Aniefiok is the President of African Union of Jonesboro and author of “The Master Key Is in You. How to Unlock the Divine Blessings of God in Your Life.”
By Anthony Maliki
Helping the needy
Bishop Aniefiok spoke with passion on the reasons why including the challenges of his dear mother. He told Apex News Exclusive that “Well, it is all about helping the less privileged. It is obvious that because of the economic situation in Nigeria, things are very, very difficult and even all over the world you always have people that need help. You know what I went through and my mom went through to raise all of us it is something that I actually vow to that I am going to help that needy-the widows, the orphans and the less-privileged when God gives me an opportunity and that has been on top of my head for a very long time. So, having the opportunity to come to the United States and God blessed me with few things, I find it more than necessary to assist in any way that I can and we do that through Ambassadors Foundation Projects which is part of our ministry. We have been helping the people. We gave widows foodstuff that will last for six months, money to start business, money to get a new home, we help them in our own possible way. Apart from that we are also looking for investors here in the United States because the need is becoming quite increasing. The demand is high.
People that have been assisted and still counting
The cleric noted that though the philanthropy he desires is to be devoid of public notice but it wasn’t to be. Here said the exercise was leaked. “We were having up to 20 widows on our list in Nigeria and the most amazing thing is that the last widow that we helped for some reasons was leaked to the press. That is not the way we wanted it to be, we just do what we wanted because that is what God has called us to do. But the last one leaked to the press and that really exposed me, my wife and our ministry, so we have over 100 widows and other less-privileged that were reaching us. I will not say tough but demand is becoming increasing.
Helping in area of health
He gave a short background in trying to explain. “Yes. Let me say this. We are not focusing on helping the widows alone. My mom is diabetic. She told me one day she came back from buying her prescriptions, three widows being her friends were waiting for her.” Bishop Aniefoik continued that his mother had shared this experience with him and these widows were waiting for her to give them few of her prescriptions and their situation was getting worse since they don’t have money to buy drugs. “My mom told me this and I couldn’t sleep. So, now it is not even the issue of food but looking for something to make them live and I had to look for ways to make them get their medicines in every possible way that we can.” He explained that they were buying medicines for people who cannot afford it because the cost is so high. “I know what I spend to buy prescriptions for my mom every month. So, the question is what happens to those who don’t have somebody to help them. So, that open another door for us to help people buy their prescription. What people are facing is enormous.” According to him, there are a lot of people like that that they don’t even know noting that if these widows were not close to his mom, he won’t even know. A sympathetic Aniefiok said: “I couldn’t just close my eyes without helping those people because my mom could only share few with them for a day which will not solve the problem. This is one of the areas we have diversified into and by the grace of God we are expecting doors to be open so we can acquire medicines for people like that in Nigeria.”
Jonesboro pastors together in unity after a replenishing conference at Christ Ambassadors Ministries
Reasons for going into evangelism and Founder of Christ Ambassadors Ministries International
He said “By the Grace of God, I am the Founder and President of Christ Ambassadors Ministries International in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States. I have been by the special Grace of God bringing people, missionaries so to say, to Nigeria from United States and one of the primary reasons is for spiritual reason for our country.” He noted that it is not to mean there are no powerful men of God in Nigeria or churches in Nigeria. “I brought them to join faith and pray for Nigeria. Nigeria needs spiritual, physical and emotional change you can think of. And I believe that there is nothing God cannot do. The Bible says ‘with God, all things are possible’. So, one thing for spiritual reason, to pray for our beloved country Nigeria. Secondly, to use their good offices as ministers of God and see how they can assist the less-privileged, the poor, those that are hungry that need help because those are men of God that move with compassion. I know them, they have good heart. And they have in their little capacity and ministry helped in many ways they can.”
Christ Ambassadors Ministries International leaders during a jeans service
Nigeria in dire need of good leaders
Bishop Aniefiok was emotional. “Look at the economic situation of Nigeria and also the ministers of God saw that Nigeria is a good country, it just needs a good leader to manage the economy and the resources that is endured in the country. So, they were looking at the oil sector to see how we can build a modular refinery whereby we can create employment and hire more people and getting them engaged. So, we incorporated a company called Rhema Energy Development, USA and we have offices in the United States and branch in Nigeria. So, we working tirelessly to ensure that that comes to pass. COVID-19 has really been a major problem that have delayed a lot of things. Despite that we are still working tirelessly, talking to investors and by the Grace of God it will come to pass very soon so that we can be able to touch lives. We are also looking at different sectors too like one of them has opened a ministry in Nigeria, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Liberia and he has been really helpful to those that needed assistance. So, by the Grace of God, we have invested so much financially, physically and in the area of forming a company to see what we can do to get people engaged.
Some widows who benefited financially through Bishop Aniefiok Ambassador Foundation
Why Nigeria needs spiritual cleansing
In talking about this, Bishop Aniefiok gave a perspective. “If you have the opportunity to travel out of Nigeria, you will agree with me that Nigeria is a great country. You will agree that Nigeria is well endured with both human and natural resources. Now, why is Nigeria not progressing the way it should? Why is Nigeria so stagnated? Why do things seem not to work in Nigeria? Now, the answer number one is bad leadership. Bad leadership is the problem of Nigeria. Secondly, people that are in power are not honest and sincere and thirdly, corruption. These are the crux of Nigeria’s problems. The leaders are not honest and corrupt and in a situation like that we cannot grow. Most of my friends, who have opportunity to visit Nigeria and have seen that Nigeria is not as bad as they projected, say if we the right leadership is in place, Nigeria would be one of the best and let me tell you if we have leaders that do what is right, that consider the interest of the nation first, that they don’t care about draining the national treasury, just to buy houses in a developed country. You see some of these things our leaders do does not make sense. We truly need prayers. How can you drain the resources of a developing country and go and a developed an advanced country and they are far above you? To reach where they are will take about a hundred years if it is possible, so it does not make sense. A friend of mine asked me why is Nigeria still in darkness? Nigeria as big as it is, as mighty as it is, as influential as it is, is the only country that their citizens cannot enjoy electricity for straight one hour. If you go to Benin, Ghana and Togo, they have light almost 24 hours. Why is Nigeria backwards, why is it in darkness? Corruption, bad leadership. So, we have to think ahead, what legacy are we leaving behind?”
An official of Bishop Aniefiok’s foundation assists a widow with cash and food stuff
Bishop Aniefiok as chairman of African Union Association in Jonesboro
Apart from evangelism and work, the Akwa-Ibom-born cleric is also chairman of the African Union Association in his locality. He told Apex News Exclusive that within Jonesboro, African and Nigerians that are staying in the neighbouring environment, have been able to coordinate themselves well and it happens that after their first end of the year party, the following year, the COVID-19 pandemic was causing a lot of fear and people could not gather to do what they ought to. He said most of the things what they were doing are virtual and on telephone. “One of the things that we are planning to do is to pull our resources together to form a scholarship to pay for those who cannot pay their school fees or are aspiring to go to university. We have set up a committee to come up with a criterion. We have a lot of bigger plans and we also want our voice to be heard in the right direction,” he explained. According to him, “we want to appreciate those who actually contributed to the development of Nigeria and Africa as a whole by way of saying ‘Thank you.’ In one of our meetings somebody observed that if you see those that are out of the country and see what they are doing outside the shores of Nigeria in investments, is amazing. The best medical doctors, nurses and some working in big corporations are doing well. Nigerians in the United States have the highest per cent academic professors, they have the best medical doctors, even in where I work, Nigerians are doing well. Not that we don’t have the human resources but the country is not helping. Africa as a whole is a victim of bad leadership. So, that is where we want to come in to make our voices heard concerning what is good and what is bad. So, we are going to support what is good and kick against what is bad. These are in the agenda. Give scholarship and speak against bad government and also encourage good government.”
Looking back at fond memories of Nigeria
Well, home will always be home. There is a song that ‘There is no place like home.’ If I tell you I’m not missing a whole of things, I’m lying. You have been my friend right from the university in Maiduguri. You took me to army base, buy me a lot of goat meat and a lot of things. So, those are the memories. Edikang-ikong, Afang soup and those things you hardly come by. But I try to make sure a travel two hours to buy them. I try to open an African food store here but not in full operation because where we live, we don’t have majority of Africans but students that come and go. But we are gradually introducing African food which is mostly organic. I am missing a lot of good food in Nigeria. I try to buy goat meat if I travel to places that is more populated by Africans. Yes, I am missing a lot of fond memories.
