President of God's Kingdom Society (GKS), Brother Oseghale Emmanuel Aighalua, has said that the world's economic crises was partly due to the greed of a few persons, describing as grossly unsatisfactory, the situation where the world's 225 richest people have more money than two billion ofthe world's poor, while one per cent of Nigerians allegedly control 80% of the nation's wealth.

In an address entitled Seeking the Interest of others which he delivered at the Freedom Day Divine Service to mark the birth of Christ at Salem City, Warri, the church headquarters, the GKS president said the accumulation of so much wealth by a few in the midst of so much poverty was contrary to the Christian principle of seeking the well being and happiness of others.

Quoting statistics from the UNDP, Brother Aighalua said that the world's 225 richest people had a combined income of $1 trillion, which was equal to the combined annual income of the world's 2.5 billion poorest people. So gross is the lop-sidedness in wealth distribution that the wealth of the three most well-to-do individuals in the world exceeded the combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the 48 least developed countries in the world.

He said wealth was so concentrated in a few hands that as much as $4.5 billion could be raised from a four per cent levy on the world's richest people, an amount that experts say would go a long way in providing adequate food, safe water and sanitation, basic education and health care for all the people in developing countries of the world.

According to Brother Aighalua, people who are solely concerned with their personal pleasures take advantage of opportunities without regard to the consequences on others and commit any kind of evil in order to protect their interests.

He quoted the words of a prayer made Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria's former President, at the defunct National Council of Nigeria and Camerous (NCNC) Executive Committee meeting at the Lagos City College on June 16 1958, that "...The world that you (God) made for us to live in peace, we have made into an armed camp..."

The GKS President, who stated that Christianity was founded on concern and service to one another, said the greed among men had led to wars, marital breakdown, ruptured friendships, crisis in families and so on. The situation, he said, had worsened in the last days when the Bible says men would not only be narrow minded but vain glorious and self-assuming, valuing themselves beyond all others.

Because they lacked natural affection, they do not feel pity or compassion for others as they are only concerned with ensuring their own enjoyment. Like the epicureans in the time of Apostle Paul, they deny a divine providence, and believe there is no after-judgment; their rule of life was self-gratification, the pursuit of pleasure.

"But this sentiment of living licentiously today because there may be no tomorrow, is against the Christian spirit, which teaches that we are not here to please ourselves but the Almighty Father Who enjoined us to have consideration for one another" he said asserting that the solution to the world's crises was for peoples of the world to love one another and to live in peace as preached by Jesus Christ over 2000 years ago.

Among highlights of the service attended by dignitaries from various parts of the country, was the sermon "Was Christ born on Christmas Day discoursed by Brother Orighoye Obelikpeyah.