From a humble beginning in 1987, Prophet TB Joshua had built the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) into a megachurch with millions of followers from around the world by the time Joshua died on June 5, 2021.
SCOAN, according to a 2013 report by The Guardian, received more weekly attendees than the combined number of visitors to Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London.
ThisDay also reported that “about two million local and inbound tourists” visit SCOAN annually.”
Some call SCOAN “Nigeria’s biggest tourist attraction” and “the most visited destination by religious tourists in West Africa”.
While many followers of Joshua and the wider public are familiar with his massive church complex located in the Ikotun Egbe area of Lagos, many are unaware of the massive transformation that has taken place at the spot where the ministry began within the same Egbe community.
The church began in a small hut, now called The Humble Beginning, which is an important part of a now expansive complex called The Prayer Mountain, a luscious landscape of lush-green vegetation, a large body on water and massive buildings connected by seemingly endless walkways.
Nothing at the entrance of the non-descript and sloping street leading to The Prayer Mountain gives an indication of the scale of construction and facilities in the complex fenced by 20-metre high corrugated metal sheets.
Even after walking through its main gate, a patchwork of metal, what greets the visitor is a small shack from which begins a walk on about three kilometres on a wooden walkway to the corridor of a large building sitting on water. That walk stretches for about two kilometres and takes the visitor to a tree-filled, bench-spangled space, the size of about six football fields, which is said to be a place for members to pray undistracted.
Peacocks, ducks and antelopes can also be seen sauntering around in the place where nature meets modernity.
A very prominent part of the complex is a helipad built on water. The helipad was built, according to one of the workers in the complex, because of VIPs such as presidents, who visit The Prayer Mountain for spiritual reasons.
Also sitting on water, with beach sand of about 20 feet in height, is a place designed to serve as the presidential lounge.
Another prominent feature of the religious complex is what is called the Long House, a sprawling and towering building used as hostels for worshippers. Not far from it is where the preacher’s residence, which houses an expansive sitting room next to a bathroom with a jacuzzi fitted with a television set beaming Joshua’s Emmanuel TV, which claims to be the most-watched Christian television channel in the world.
Emmanuel TV broadcasts from its swanky studio at The Prayer Mountain. The studio, it was learnt, was built in five months by engineers from South Korea and was completed just about the time President Muhammadu Buhari imposed the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
The complex also houses a library, which has books on Christianity and other subjects.
Joshua, who died as one of the richest pastors in the world, preferred The Prayer Mountain as a home because of its serenity and sees his church complex as a place of work.
