From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The philanthropic arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints brought joy and laughter to over 300 families in Abaji community, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who benefitted from its “Light the World” humanitarian outreach at the weekend.
Each beneficiary was given a 10-kilogramme of rice, 10 kilogrammes of beans, 10 kilogrammes of corn, live chicken, one carton of noodle, three tubers of yam, four litres of groundnut oil, several tins of tomato paste, packs spices, salt and other condiments.
The beneficiaries were also exposed to information on healthy practices that would improve their health. The need to show love and empathy to one another not minding the differences, and other ways they could support their communities and governments in efforts to make the society a safer and better place for human habitation.
The Ona of Abaji and Chairman of the FCT Council of Traditional Rulers, Alhaji Adamu Baba Yunusa, alongside officials of Abaji Area Council, leaders of Christian and Muslim Communities, village heads, and other dignitaries, participated in the event that heralded the distribution of food items.
In his remarks, the Ona of Abaji, thanked the leadership of the Church for such great humanitarian relief materials that visited his community, and unleashed royal blessings on the church, its leadership and members.
He appealed to the beneficiaries to use the donated items for the benefit of their families for which it was donated. “Please, consider your neighbours who might not have the privilege to be enlisted in this batch of intervention but needed this kind of help.”
The Stake President, Abuja Nigeria Lugbe Stake of Church, Alaribe Obinna, told journalists, that the outreach was one of the church’s numerous interventions to mankind as instructed by Jesus Christ who is the light of the world.
He said the essence of the outreach in Abaji was to re-introduce peace, joy, hope, and most importantly, food to members of the community, who are temporarily unable to provide basic things, including food for themselves for some unknown reasons.
“This kind of interventions and outreaches is what Jesus Christ stands for, and that’s what He asked us to do. As a church, we are committed to any cause that would bring joy to the faces of the people, irrespective of their faith and social status. We are committed to any thing that will ‘light up the world.’
“Our targets are the poorest of the poor in the society. In the case of Abaji, we reached out to the traditional ruler, Ona of Abaji, and requested that he provide such people to benefit from the humanitarian service, and he graciously did. We are happy that joy, hope and laughter is evident in the faces of these people. As a church, we are extremely happy that these people can smile and laugh again because of our little deed.”
He, however, explained that the Church has no special interest in the Abaji community other than to bring succour to the less-privileged in the community.
“We have interest in all the communities in Abuja, and beyond. We choose Abaji this time because sometimes in June this year, we had a ‘Strengthening Family Conference’ in Abuja. The Ona participated and made presentation in that Conference. Afterwards, he made a request which we obliged him. He requested that we visit his community with any humanitarian service. That promise has been fulfilled and more would come in not too long from now.”
Adding, the Stake President, Abuja Nigeria Kubwa Stake of the Church, Ifeanyi Harrison Agiriga, explained that the “Light Up the World” intervention was designed by the church to reach out to people at different levels with love and message of Christ.
He confirmed that similar project was being done simultaneously across the country and beyond in line with the theme of the project, “Light up the World,” which came from Jesus Christ who is the light of the world.
He said: “On this particular project, we had to meet as a church to agree on how best to execute the humanitarian project and ensure that the impact is directly felt by the people. Evidently, the humanitarian outreach was a success, and we are happy that our targets left with cheerful countenance, obviously happier than they came.
“The idea was to bring succour to the people of the community, considering the economic hardship currently being experienced in Nigeria, and I can gladly say the aim was achieved. We identified the poor and needy among the community and reached out to them with these food items.”
Director of Communication of the Church, George Ikpe Nkanang, told journalists that the plan was to make people feel the love and peace of Jesus Christ through the humanitarian interventions, which is in line with the admonitions of Christ.
“Christ taught us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, reach out to the poor with word of hope, and assist the government. The most interesting thing is that we don’t discriminate. Location, race, religion, tribe, political affiliation, and other differences are not considered in our humanitarian services,” he said.
Leaders of Abaji Christian and Muslim Communities, as well as representative of the Abaji Area Council Chairman, appreciated the church for the kind intervention, and assured them they would continue to promote peace and unity among the people of the community, irrespective of faith.
One of the beneficiaries, Saleh Dangana, appreciated the church for the kind interventions. “This was massive! I didn’t know it was this big. Even the so-called palliatives from government was never this rich. This will serve my family for quite some time,” he said.
Another beneficiary, who identified herself as Maimuna, appreciated the Church for remembering the community out of thousands of communities in Abuja.
She also thanked the traditional ruler for ensuring that justice was done in the sharing of the food items.