From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) has donated food and none food relief items worth 150,000 US dollars to victims of flood disaster in Benue State.
The Regional Manager, Welfare and Self Reliance Services, Charles Adebayo, who presented the items to the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom in Makurdi, on Tuesday, said that it was their own contribution to ameliorate the suffering of flood victims in the state.
Adebayo said, “We came to the knowledge of the recent flood disaster in Benue state and the humanitarian arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has cone to offer its hands of assistance to support our brothers and sisters who have been affected by the flood in various communities.
“As a result of the information we had, we have put together some humanitarian goods worth 150,000 dollars.
“The items include 800 bags of rice, 800 bags of beans, 200 bags of semovita, 200 cartons of beverages, 200 palm oil splits, vegetables oil splits, 400 cartons of noodles, 200 cartons of spices, 500 sachets of salt, sugar, 400 bags of garri and 1,500 sachets of crayfish.
“We also have other items like buckets, toilet soap, bar soap among others. We feel the presentation of these items will help lighten the sufferings of our people in Benue state,” he added.
Also speaking, the Mission President, Hosborn Usi, represented by the First Councillor in the Enugu, Nigeria Mission, Godwin Timiun, said the church had been on ground in Benue since 2014.
He noted that the church had at several times extended its arm of charity saying “When such things happen, the church does not only look at its membership but extends to non members.”
He urged the state government to distribute the items to victims of the flood disaster as soon a s possible to enable them heave a sigh of relief.
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom appreciated the gesture of the church organisation and promised that the items donated will be evenly distributed to the affected people.
Ortom sad, “When you were rolling out the items you had brought, I was amazed that a faith based organisation can do this. This is amazing. This is not the first time we are having flooding since 2015, but the spate of displacement is massive as we have over 2 million displaced people.
He stated that the organisation are truly living by the word of God and have taken to the instruction of the Lord Jesus to attend to the spiritual and physical needs of the people.
He thanked the entire church for putting together the relief materials saying this is the first time an organisation outside government is bringing relief
He called on good spirited individuals and other organizations to reach out to victims not just only in Benue but also in other states.