A reverend father, Chimaobi Okoye, has urged Nigerians not to relegate diligence, pragmatism and hard work because of prayer, to prosper and drive development in the country.

Mr Okoye made the call during his sermon at the Chapel of the Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Archbishop Obiefuna Retreat Centre, Okpuno in Awka, Anambra, on Sunday.

He said that prayer would not do the things that only work would do.

According to him, prayer is supposed to equip people to be better in tune with the spirit of God so that they might do the right things and work more effectively.

“We spend so much time praying and leaving the right things we are supposed to do.

“An example is someone who complains that his business is not prospering, yet he spends every day praying at a prayer house while his shop is locked. How will such business progress?

“Can we not see that in spite of our so many prayers, there is so much evil in our society and things are not working out as they should in terms of development?

“Look at the developed countries, they do not pray so much like we do here, but things are working fine over there. That is because they pray and work.

“We need to be prudent in the practice of our Christian life. Yes, we need to pray, but we also need to do the right things to develop and succeed.

“We should stop being brainwashed with the thoughts that God will do the things we can do ourselves,” he said.

(NAN)