RCCG to Govt: Partner Genuine Religious Organisations for Speedy Devt
Alex Enumah in Abuja
The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) has called on governments at all levels to partner genuine religious organizations so as to bring about speedy development in the country.
The Pastor-in-Charge of the City of David Parish of the RCCG, Gbolade Okenla, made the call over the weekend when the Welfare and Medical Outreach unit of the church visited the Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) community in Karomajiji, Airport Road in Abuja.
Pastor Okenla also challenged religious bodies to take the initiative and do more than the government so that, “a little drop of water can make a mighty ocean.”
He disclosed that the gesture is part of the vision of the church and the General Overseer, Pastor E.A. Adeboye, to reach out to neighbours and communities to show them the love of Christ during the Christmas season.
During the visit items such as crutches, wheelchairs, medicine, rice and clothes worth over N35 million were distributed to needy members of the community.
“We thank God for the opportunity and the provisions God has given us to share with everyone here,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Director of the Social Development Secretariat of the FCT, Dr. Sani Amar Rabe, noted the efforts of the government to rehabilitate persons with disabilities through various skills like tailoring and fashion-designing and ICT to enable them attain self-actualisation.
He said efforts are being made to relocate the inmates of the centre to a permanent facility where they would complete their trainings.
In his comment, the Secretary to the Chief of Persons Living with Disabilities community in Karomajiji, FCT, Mohammed Dansani, said managing persons with disabilities requires patient, adding that the 571 inmates in the centre and the over 25,000 persons in the FCT have ability in disability.
He said: “I always call on the government not to stop at giving fish but to give skills that would empower them to catch the fish by themselves.
“If we say we will be waiting to always be given, then even our children will be part of the people that would be beggars again, so we want to learn skills to serve as a solution to the problem of begging.”
In his assessment of the outreach, the Head of Medical and Welfare Unit of the church, Dr. Theophilus Ado, bemoaned the neglect of persons with disabilities in society.
“From my interaction with them, I want to let you know that some of them are very smart, ingenious and intelligent,” he said.
He, however, lamented that some of them are so poor and without empowerment that they are not able to afford good food; the reason why they scramble for a 5 kg of rice distributed to each household in the community.
