Two prominent Nigerian clergymen have donated medical accessories and other equipment worth millions of naira towards curtailing the spread of the COVID-19 in the country.
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Pastor Enoch Adeboye and the presiding bishop of the Living Faith Church aka Winners Chapel, David Oyedepo, made the donations separately to the Lagos and Ogun State Governments.
Both churches have some of the largest congregations in Nigeria.
Nigeria has recorded 174 cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday evening with Lagos having 91 cases and Ogun 4. The Nigerian authorities have ordered a total lockdown of both states in the South West region of the country.
The items Pastor Adeboye donated are 8,000 Hand Sanitizers, 8,000 Surgical Face Masks and 200,000 hand gloves to support the efforts of the Lagos government in equipping the medical staff with protective gears required to contain the pandemic.
“We commend the sacrifices that all medical personnel are taking at this time. The church continues to pray for them as they give their sacrifice of love even as the RCCG as a church agrees that containing COVID-19 is by no means a work for all,” Pastor Johnson Funsho Adesola (AGO Admin/Personnel) who represented Pastor Adeboye, said while making the donation.
He said apart from the donation, the RCCG had given other supports to the health sector.
The church has said it had donated 11 ICU beds fully fitted with Ventilators in Lagos, Ogun and Plateau States as parts of its commitment to improve the health sector in Nigeria.
On his part, Bishop Oyedepo donated ambulances, test kits, personal protective devices (PPE) to the Lagos and Ogun State governments to assist in curtailing the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The global coronavirus pandemic has reached dangerous dimensions, with a spike in infection numbers around the world, and inevitable advserse effects on the global economy and on virtually all areas of human endeavour,” Sheriff Folarin, who heads the church’s Editorial and Media Board, said in statement.
“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.”
Folarin, a professor, said 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.
Pastor David Oyedepo (Jnr) led other leaders of the Church to the Governor’s Office in Abeokuta to make the donation on April 1.
Items donated are an ambulance and medical consumable.
The other items include 10 cartons of hand gloves, five cartons of disposable face masks and 20 units of infrared thermometers.
Also 10 units of Oxometer, 10 units of blood pressure monitors and 850 pieces of hand sanitisers were handed over to the state government.
Mr Oyedepo said the donation was a demonstration of the church’s solidarity with the state government in combating the pandemic.
“We have come here today for the purpose of demonstrating our solidarity with the state government in the battle against COVID-19 which has been a global pandemic,” he said.
“We are in the fight together, and we trust God that at the end of the day, we will have a song of victory in the name of Jesus Christ.
“We have come today to present some items to help in this fight.
“We are rest assured that as we take steps medically and spiritually, the victory will be achieved.
“We have come with that purpose at heart and we trust God that, very soon, we will have a different story.”
