Nigeria
Contact Information
Office Contact:

Andrew Alasa

Office Address:

physical address:
Km 14, Lagos/Ibadan Expressway
Punch Bus Stop. (Punch Place)
Magboro, Lagos State
Nigeria

mailing address:
P.O. Box 15478
Ikeja, Lagos State
NIGERIA


Country Demographics

Capital:
Abuja

Population:
177,155,754

Languages:
English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani

Religion:
Muslim 50%, Christian 40%, indigenous beliefs 10%

Life Expectancy:
47.81 years

GDP per-capita:
$3,005

Of Interest:
British influence and control over what would become Nigeria and Africa's most populous country grew through the 19th century. A series of constitutions after World War II granted Nigeria greater autonomy; independence came in 1960. Following nearly 16 years of military rule, a new constitution was adopted in 1999, and a peaceful transition to civilian government was completed. The government continues to face the daunting task of reforming a petroleum-based economy, whose revenues have been squandered through corruption and mismanagement, and institutionalizing democracy. In addition, Nigeria continues to experience longstanding ethnic and religious tensions. Although both the 2003 and 2007 presidential elections were marred by significant irregularities and violence, Nigeria is currently experiencing its longest period of civilian rule since independence. The general elections of April 2007 marked the first civilian-to-civilian transfer of power in the country's history and the elections of 2011 were generally regarded as credible. In January 2014, Nigeria assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2014-15 term

Location:

Western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Benin and Cameroon

Office Staff

Andrew Alasa

Office Manager

Manager History:

I came in contact with the Message in 1980 just before going to the University College for my studies. But before coming in contact with the Message, I had gone to church with my parents as a young man, and maintained my contact with going to church even when I had grown up and had gone to high school. A friend gave me a sermon Book with the title, “The Mighty God unveiled before us”. I read the book as a young believer in a Baptist church, and it struck fire in my soul, to see the Godhead, and knowing that Jesus Christ was the Lord God Himself made flesh, and water Baptism in His name, it was simply a wonderful experience for me.

Somehow, I had a hidden desire to work in God's service, which I had kept to myself. My longing to have a very successful career also was part of my ambitions while going to the University College. I had also tried to join the military in 1985, after graduating from my university studies, but the need to serve God in a better atmosphere kept me from it, even though I had been invited to the Military Academy School. After that, I got an appointment to work with Brother Cosmas Maduka in his company, Coscharis Group Ltd. This is where my desire to work in God’s service was fulfilled when VGR started its operations through the Company. God surely made all things work out to His Glory.

Ever since the Lord brought me into the Message just before going for my studies at the University College, I have since remained a believer in the Message. I am a Deacon in our church here in Lagos, Nigeria. The Message means so much to me. For me, it is THE ABSOLUTE AND THUS SAITH THE LORD. I firmly believe in the entire Message revealed by Brother Branham, and I am doing everything by the help of the Holy Spirit to make my life be a reflection of the Word revealed by the prophet. I believe there is only ONE prophet messenger to this age and that is Brother Branham. He is God's Voice that brought the Word of God to us.


Brother Emmanuel Ojeme Assistant Office Manager

Brother John Okwuada Office Assistant, and logistics staff

Office History

Before the establishment of VGR activities in Nigeria, the believers at the time were receiving sermon books and tapes mostly from the then Spoken Word Publications and individual ministers from the U.S and Canada. These books and tapes of the prophet's sermons were sent to individual believers with whom they had contacts. The resultant effect of this arrangement, was that many believers and churches did not have access to the sermon books, and the audio tapes were not even at a reach. Many believers had not even heard the voice of the prophet by this time, and no sermon books for most of the believers. Only a very privileged few had access to the books. There was no organized system for the sermon books to be received by all the believers and churches. What we had was a few ministers and believers who had the contacts, receiving the books by post.

You can imagine what the situation was like at that time. This was how the sermon books and tapes were handled until 1984, when Voice Of God Recordings came on the scene, and changed the situation forever, with the establishment of lending libraries. In 1985, Brother Joseph Branham in company with Brother Billy Paul Branham and a few others, visited Nigeria to assess the needs and how to get the message to the believers in the country. This visit afforded them the opportunity to meet with some of the ministers, and marked the beginning of a new era in the message history in Nigeria.

In 1986, VGR contacted Brother Cosmas Maduka, a believer in the message, who has an import based business, to allow the use of his company facilities to ship and clear the message materials to Nigeria. This meeting was held in the United States in Harrisburg, when Brother David Branham met with Brother Olu Omotoyinbo, ( Brother Cosmas Maduak’s pastor) who was in the US at the time. Brother Olu promised to deliver the message to Brother Maduka when he returns back to Nigeria. Brother Maduka gladly accepted the opportunity to do that for the Lord and the first shipment was done in 1987. This means that the believers in Nigeria were now to be receiving sermon books, and have access to the tapes through the lending libraries. This opened a brand new world to the believers in Nigeria.

MY RELATIONSHIP WITH VOICE OF GOD RECORDINGS.

I got involved with VGR distribution work in 1987, when VGR began its maiden shipment to Nigeria. The operation at this time was small and the shipment coming into the country was also very small, being in few pallets, but this was a great blessing as the known churches at the time believing the message were now having direct access to the sermon books. At this time, I was working as a full time employee of Brother Maduka’s company, Coscharis Group Limited. Interestingly, I joined Brother Maduka’s company in April 1987. And VGR started shipment some few months later. I started handling the distribution process along with my then present job in the office.

In March, 1990, Brother Joseph Branham, decided to establish an office in Nigeria. With this decision, Brother Maduka asked me to take over the responsibility as a full time staff being seconded to VGR. I accepted the new challenge, and I began traveling around the country to visit the then existing VGR lending libraries. During the visits, I took pictures of the libraries, with the conditions of the tapes and books, which I sent to VGR Jeffersonville. These reports began a turn of events in the services of VGR in Nigeria. A new mailing list was compiled and the volume of the material coming into Nigeria tremendously increased. I had my first VGR national meeting with the churches in Nigeria in 1990, and this was held in Lagos at the office which we were using for the work.

I have since held several meetings with the ministers in Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, and Benin Republic, and also organized the mailing list for Ivory Coast in 1995. I have also visited VGR in Jeffersonville a number of times. I presently serve about 900 churches in Nigeria, and also churches in Togo and Benin, and I help with the work in Ghana.

Special Information

The Lagos office is a bungalow building with three office rooms and a sound room (for viewing videos and DVDs from VGR). The office also includes a lending library and a reception room with pictures of the prophet and a sermon book display rack. It has a two-room, attached building with storage facilities. This new office apartment is a major leap from our one-room office, which we have used since 1990. We are trusting God to have our own purposely built office, if the Lord willing, during the period of the rent. The office serves over 612 churches in Nigeria and about 36 lending libraries and seed tape libraries. It also handles the shipment of sermon messages for Benin Republic and Togo. Their consignments are transported from Nigeria to the two countries.