Everyone that attended the INRI Youth Thanksgiving Service on Sunday 12th of October, 2025, is still talking about the incredible scenes that happened at the event. It was a day that the founder and leader of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Ayodele Elijah, proved yet again for the umpteenth time, that he is a man of God that is constantly genuinely concerned about the plight of the less privileged within and outside his congregation. He is forever worried about how the average Nigerian survives considering the prevailing economic realities.
But as a man of God with a compassionate heart who is never driven by tithe collection and financial exploitation of his congregation, Primate Ayodele doesn't just worry about the plight of the people, he also seeks solutions within his own small space. This is why, for years running now, Primate Ayodele's philanthropy, empowerment programmes and community support have been legendary. And it's all well documented.
From the moment the prices of food items sky rocketed owing to the removal of fuel subsidy, Primate Ayodele has taken it upon himself to organise regular palliative markets where hundreds of food items are sold at incredibly low rates. When a bag of rice was being sold at 90k in the market last year, Primate Ayodele sold his at 20k. Same with items such as yam, beans, garri, Indomie noodles, etc.
And while organising palliative markets on one hand, he is also empowering youths, widows, the aged and media practitioners on the other. He has given out both monetary gifts of large sums and dozens of vehicles to many journalists who have supported the growth of the church over the years.
Last Sunday, at the church's youth anniversary programme, Primate Ayodele made good his promise to support young people in the church. But he didn't only focus on the youths, he also stretched his hand of support and compassion to the aged, the widows and other deserving members of the church. Members got significant financial support in cash to secure accommodation, others got support to pay existing rents, about ten widows and the aged were empowered while students numbering over 150 got 50k each as educational grants. Many of the students who benefitted from these grants were students from University of Lagos and YABA Tech.
Food items were also sold at highly ridiculous amounts. Two tubers of yam and a pack of 6 eggs were sold #1500 while a carton of Indomie noodles was sold at 3k. A small bag of rice worth almost 10k was sold at #1700, same with Semovita and others.
The big moment came when three vehicles, two clean looking Honda Accord and one Audi, were bought by three lucky members of the church who paid a paltry N1million each per vehicle. It was jubilation galore in the church as the lucky owners and their friends and well wishers gathered round to congratulate them and celebrate the joyous moment with them.
"What we are doing here is very vital to the progress and social well being of the people," Primate Ayodele explained. "The government cannot do everything, Tinubu cannot do what we are doing here. My own focus is to try and see how we can alleviate the suffering of the people in our own little way, that's why we are always organising these palliatives and selling vehicles worth several millions in the market at just one million naira. This way, people who, ordinarily may not have been able to afford to buy a car owing to the exorbitant price, are now proud owners of their own vehicles and they're happy. And that's what we want to achieve with what we are doing here, to make people happy and feel little of the biting economic reforms of the government," he concluded.
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