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From Godwin Tsa Abuja
The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), has donated items worth N32 million to persons with disabilities in Karomajiji community of the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT), Abuja.
The items, which include wheelchairs, clutches, medicine, clothes and rice, were presented to them during the welfare and medical outreach programme of the church to the community.
Making the presentation on behalf of the church, Pastor Gbolade Okenla of the City of David Parish, Abuja, appealed to the Federal Government to partner with genuine religious bodies to bring speedy development in the country.
The cleric equally called on religious bodies to take the initiative and do more than the government so that a little drop of water could make a mighty ocean.
He said it was part of the vision of the church and the General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, to reach out to neighbours and communities to show them the love of Christ during the Christmas season.
He said the materials being donated to the community was worth N35 million, including crutches, wheelchairs, medicine, rice and clothes.
“We thank God for the opportunity and the provisions God has given us to share with everyone here,” he said.
Speaking during the ceremony, 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 were being made to relocate the inmates of the centre to a permanent facility where they would complete their training.
In his comment, the Secretary to the Chief of Persons Living with Disabilities community in Karomajiji, FCT, Mohammed Dansani, said managing persons with disabilities required patience, 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 the medical and welfare unit of the church, Dr Theophilus Ado, bemoaned the neglect of persons with disabilities in the society.
“From my interaction with them, I want to let you know that some of them are very smart, ingenious and intelligent.
“Some of them are so poor and without empowerment that they are not able to afford good food and that is why there is a scramble for the 5kg of rice for each household, some may even get more than that.
“Second thing is that apart from providing them with wheelchairs, we came with a lot of social amenities for them, like walking sticks, hearing aids, mattresses, clothes and shoes.
“We also came with a team of medical doctors, pharmacists, optometrists, ENT doctors, scientists, and what we found out is that so many of them have simple conditions that they cannot treat, like skin lesions and wounds they just cover up without treatment, diabetes and high blood pressure.
“We want the government to continue to partner with us as we have a pastor, who is interested in social development and a GO who continues to encourage us to continue to reach out.”
