Founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide (Winners’ Chapel International), Bishop David Oyedepo has made donations of ambulances, test kits, personal protective device (PPE) to the Lagos and Ogun State governments, to assist in the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) scourge in Nigeria.
The church also donated medical resources and food items as part of its phased and continuous support to the Nigerian authorities in taming the COVID-19 pandemic and the biting effects of the lockdown on poor citizens of the country.
According to a statement from the church signed by Professor Sheriff Folarin, Chairman, Editorial and Media Board, Living Faith Church Worldwide (LFCWW), “The global coronavirus pandemic has reached dangerous dimensions, with a spike in infection numbers around the world, and inevitable adverse effects on the global economy and on virtually all areas of human endeavour.
“Living Faith Church as a faith-based organisation with a global outreach wishes to register its support, in entirety, to the Nigerian government and global efforts to win the war against this unseen but common enemy of mankind.”
He said that among the medical/health resources donated are two state-of-the-art ambulances with capacity for first aid, test and treatment of those infected or on emergency resulting from the infection.
Professor Folarin noted that “Each of the ambulances will be donated to Lagos and Ogun States, to boost the disease control measures and treatment.
“Other items include 20 cartons of latex hand gloves (10 boxes per carton), 10 cartons of disposable face masks (40 boxes per carton), 40 pieces of the infrared thermometer (gun-shaped type), 500 pieces of personal protective device (PPE) Hazmat suit, two boxes of the pulse oximeter (10 per box), and two cartons of blood pressure monitor (10 per carton).
“Taking delivery of the ambulances and other medical items on Monday, Presiding Bishop, David Oyedepo maintained that the church would continue to render medical, material and spiritual support to the government and the people to ensure that the situation in Nigeria does not explode or become intractable. Bishop Oyedepo personally upholds the principle of giving and catering for the needy, which are the hallmarks of the ministry under his leadership.
“Also received are food items, which are meant for immediate distribution as palliatives to the less privileged who are likely to be the worst hit by the lockdown. These are 400 bags of rice, 150 bags of beans, 400 bags of garri, 500 gallons of vegetable oil, among other items.”
According to the professor, “Living Faith Church Worldwide has a long history of being one of the few churches that often rise to the occasion to support human rehabilitation during and after major crises in Nigeria.
“Also, it has, over the years, rendered humanitarian assistance to some countries in Africa during post-war reconstruction. These usually run to hundreds of millions of Naira in financial value.
“In 1994, Winners’ Chapel was the first faith-based organisation outside Rwanda to send materials and money for the rehabilitation of a people traumatized by a 100-day genocide that took the lives of about one million Rwandese.
“The famous stone-age Koma Hill settlement discovered in the late 1980s had its first school, church, potable water and modern clothing in the 1990s at the instance of Winners’ Chapel. One of the little kids from Koma was sponsored by the church up to tertiary education and had his first degree from Landmark University and is currently completing his Master’s degree programme at Covenant University. These two institutions are owned by Winners’ Chapel.
“Aside from the annual responsibility of disbursements of tens of millions to rehabilitate state, federal and international roads in Ado-Odo Ota Local Government, Ogun State, there is the David Oyedepo Foundation (DOF), which offers scholarships to indigent students and children of hundreds of poor Church members, from primary to university levels. The church’s engagement in offering scholarships to indigent students began in 1992.
“There was however a significant curve between 2012 and 2019, as scholarships offered were in excess of 1.3 billion naira (specifically N1,368,627,763).”
He said that “The ministry barely makes noise about this philanthropy and responsibility to the nation and children of God, inspired by its belief in the biblical admonition that all acts of kindness should not be for showmanship- ‘for, the Father who sees your secret kindness shall reward openly.’ Nevertheless, the church will not relent in offering help and partnering with government at all levels and responsible agencies, to tame COVID-19 and other monsters such as hunger and illiteracy, that have, in more recent times, short-changed humanity.
