Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Moved by the scourge of Coronavirus pandemic on an average Nigerian family, the Omega Power Ministries (OPM) worldwide, has promised to feed the less privileged residents in FCT Abuja and other states, to cushion the effect of the lockdown declared by the federal government to curtail the spread of the disease.
Interestingly, the church has already started the gesture in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, where it threw open the gate of its restaurant to feed the less privileged free of charge.
A statement issued by the Public Relation Officer of OPM, Pastor Isaiah Gogo-Ogute, and made available to newmen in Abuja, noted that the church’s General Overseer (GO), Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere, wants to use the gesture as palliative during the lockdown.
The GO, in the statement, further maintained that it was also to support the efforts of government in curtailing the spread of the world health pandemic ravaging many countries.
“The free restaurant served takeaway food to the less privileged people in Port Harcourt, its environs and even the FCT to help government contain the spread of the virus during the lockdown.
“The reason for the takeaway is to maintain social distancing and to ensure that government policies on coronavirus are kept while the poor and less privileged are saved from massive hunger and starvation.
“The food is for everybody just like our schools and hospitals; the gesture is for everybody – Christians, Muslims and pegans. My vision is not to buy private jet but to prepare people to make heaven.
“OPM free restaurant has been in operation for seven years but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we decided to give food to people as takeaway instead of them coming to sit down to eat; we also gave them money.
“Church is not about collecting offering from members, it is also about assisting them and the less privileged during crises period.
“There are many families that their source of livelihood is selling in the market but now they have been shut down and children are hungry, so, how will such people feed, if not through this means,” Chinyere noted in the statement.
He further commended the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, for shutting down the state to stop the spread of the virus with the lockdown of the state, urging Nigerians to stay safe as the virus was real.
“We should fight the virus seriously and we should also pray because it is only God that can remove it, not paracetamol or chloroquine. I know that God will help us discover a vaccine that will solve this problem,” he prayed in the statement.
