Lokoja is a town in south-central Nigeria, at the junction of the Niger and Benue rivers. It is renowned as the trade and distribution center for an agricultural (chiefly cotton) region and has food processing industries. Iron ore deposits serve the nearby Ajaokuta mill.
Short history on Lokoja:
In 1859 a British trading and missionary settlement was founded in Lokoja, and in 1860 William Balfour Baikie, the Scottish explorer, founded Lokoja. Besides being an important commercial settlement, the site (originally ceded in 1841 to the British by the King of Idah, 50 miles south) was selected for the first British consulate in the interior (1860–69) and for the military headquarters for Sir George Goldie’s Royal Niger Company (1886–1900). In 1900, Lokoja served as the staging point for the British conquest of Northern Nigeria and became the temporary capital of the protectorate of Northern Nigeria.
At the office here in Lagos, we set the following agenda for the libraries as part of my trips to visit them and also meet the needs of the churches in the different areas.
Visits to the libraries in Nigeria
These visits enabled us to do the following:
1. To have a firsthand experience of their conditions, and to also have a comprehensive review of their operations.
2. To look into areas of problems and whatever changes we need to make in the libraries.
3. To examine their location and accessibility to the people, patronage, openness to the people, and continued relevance to the people by re-positioning them to meet the vision of VGR in setting up the libraries.
4. To examine possible area(s) of support by VGR to help the libraries meet their objectives.
5. To examine their services and ascertain which additional material they need, and review what they have at the moment by way of an inventory.
6. To examine what financial needs are required by each of the libraries to have a smooth operation.
7. We would also look into areas of cooperation and support from other churches and believers.
8. To review the difficulties they have, if any, in receiving material from the main office in Lagos.
9. To encourage the libraries to organize some tape meetings where they will play a tape of Brother Branham to the people. This could be held once in a month or as the libraries feel led by the Lord.
10. To work out a program of each library, holding meetings with the churches to discuss any problem(s) might have been having with receiving the sermons.
11. The libraries will be worked with, to be sending monthly reports to the office.
We set out for the journey, with a major purpose of establishing a lending library in this town that will serve the churches in the state and other neighboring towns. This library has a dual purpose to also serve as a distribution center of the Message material to the churches on its mailing list. Before the establishment of the library, we had a Seed Tape Library in the town. Being able to establish a full Message tapes library here is a dream come true for the believers and churches who have been longing for it.
We loaded the van with the precious food from the storehouse for the new library and material for some of the churches we would meet on the trip. We also had with us the MP3 player and CD cartons for the new library, in addition to the audio tape sets of the Messages of the prophet. We commenced the trip from the office at about 10:45am and stopped at the outskirt of the city of Lagos, to buy petrol for the vehicle.
The journey covered a total distance of about 1,201 kilometers return trip. It was a joy to be on the trip as we were all excited looking forward to this mission to be accomplished. With me on the trip, were Brother Chidi Nwairo, the office assistant, and a precious brother who helped us in doing the driving, Brother John Okwuada. The roads in many parts of Nigeria are in extremely bad conditions, and travelling and driving could be very challenging to such places.
We made our second stop in the Town of Akure, where we stopped to buy petrol again for our vehicle. Thereafter we continued the journey. We were also receiving telephone calls from the brothers to help us with directions on which road to take that would be best for us. Portions of the roads were very bad, and we eventually arrived at Lokoja at about 6:30pm.
Lokoja
The Library representative, a very fine brother, Peter Adinze, had sent a brother in his church to wait for us in a part of the town to guide us to our hotel. We met two precious brothers who warmly received us and led us to the hotel. Some other brothers, including brother Peter himself, came to meet us, and we had a very fine time of meeting together.
After some time, Brother Peter and myself, met apart to set the program for the next day, which was to be the day for the meeting. He had invited the churches in the area to be part of the library establishment. We left for his house to off-load the cartons of the material into his house till the next day. After this time, we were taken to a restaurant in the town to eat our dinner. We had a very fine fellowship together. I ate some good local meal, called Pounded Yam, with Egusi soup. It was very delicious and it reminded me of when I was growing up, and how we were very well used to eating this meal.
We retired to the hotel later in the night to catch some rest.
We started the meeting in the early afternoon and it was very well attended by about 13 ministers, who travelled from different towns and villages for the purpose.
Brother Peter introduced and welcomed the brothers and asked another minister brother to open the meeting with a word of prayer.
Brother Peter thereafter, gave a brief history of the library from seed tapes to the historic establishment of the full tapes. He also told us how his church had to built the one room apartment that is on lease to host the library. They were asked to park from their previous location that was to host the library, because the people said it was not commercial enough to be located there. The present location is by the side of a police barracks. The windows are yet to be fitted with iron burglary proof. It is a one room store with a rest room facility under construction.
After Brother Peter’s review, he then formally asked me to take over the rest proceedings of the meeting. I greeted the brothers and with a short Catch The Vision speech, as we already had the guidelines which I have used in Nigeria, Benin Republic, and Togo meetings. I also encouraged them to make use of the library facility and to work with the library in helping to be a distribution center of the precious sermons of our prophet, Brother Branham.
After this short moment, I officially read the rules of the library to them which is to be pasted in the library in line with VGR policy. Following this, I then formally established a lending library in the city, and we prayed over it. We took pictures with the material and also distributed amongst the ministers some material we brought from Lagos. They were all very happy as you would see from the pictures. Brother Peter thereafter, provided us a snack and drink as refreshment. The brothers then began to depart one after the other. It was a moment of joy for all who were present.
Brother Peter immediately departed to Abuja, the Federal capital city of Nigeria from where he was to travel the next day to Kaduna to attend the funeral service of a brother from one of the churches that had passed on to be with the Lord.
We were then taken on a drive around the town to see the Confluence of the two major rivers in Nigeria, Niger and Benue. It was a very nice site, and we retired to the hotel after eating dinner in the same restaurant we were taken to on the day we arrived.