Day 7
Niger
The Niger State Commissioner of Police, Ogundele J. Ayodeji, has disclosed that heads of security agencies met to review the security situation of the state and brainstormed to ensure the successful conduct of the forthcoming general elections. He explained that the meeting was in compliance with Usman Alkali Baba’s directives towards ensuring adequate security and conducive environment for the 2023 general elections. The heads of security agencies reviewed the security situation of the state and brainstormed on pooling resources such as manpower, vehicles, and other logistics, as well as ensuring strategic deployment of security personnel and operational assets for the forthcoming general elections. Pray for a free, fair and credible 2023 general elections leading to stable and good government. Pray for Nigerians to submit to God’s authority and hope for a better future (The Bible, Psalm 91:1).
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Niger is in 33rd position in the World Watch report 2022 by Open Doors as Christian persecution is increasing. Mohamed Bazoum is the President since 2 April 2021 and the current Prime Minister of Niger is Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, since 3 April 2021. Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world where the agricultural economy is frequently destroyed by drought, making it insufficient to support the growing population. Unfortunately, slavery is still practiced in isolated areas of the country. Nigerian children are trafficked for labor in gold mines, sexual exploitation, and begging. Women are abducted and sold into domestic servitude or prostitution, and young boys are kidnapped for work in stone quarries. Less than one percent of the population claims the Christian faith. Ninety-seven percent of the nation is Muslim, with 76% of the people listed as unreached ethnic groups. An increased threat of violence from militant groups like Boko Haram against Christians persists.
Day 7
Kyrgyzstan
Open Doors tells of a young man and his sisters who started going to church after their mother died, while their Muslim father was in Russia working. When the father returned and discovered the children had become Christians, he beat them regularly and forced them to study the Quran otherwise he would “break their bones” and even kill them. The young man and his sisters eventually fled and are now in a safe house. Thankfully our Father God has said, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion (The Bible, Exodus 33:19).
Kyrgyzstan remains one of the poorest countries in post-Soviet Central Asia. Unemployment, corruption, inflation, and religious and human-rights violations still plague people’s lives, as it did before the Tulip Revolution. In 2010 a parliamentary constitution with elaborate checks and balances was adopted, making Kyrgyzstan the only Central Asian country in which the president is limited to a single term. Most Kyrgyz are nominal Muslims, but a growing Islamic identity is concerning. A lack of growth in the Church has been observed. There is diversity even within Kyrgyz culture: city, youth, and village cultures, Russian and Kyrgyz speakers, let alone other people groups including Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Uyghurs who live in Kyrgyzstan. This poses a very real challenge for effective church planting.
