Founder of The Synagogue Church of All Nations, and owner of Emmanuel TV, Pastor Temitope Balogun Joshua (T.B Joshua) has donated 1,000 food items and two million naira cash grant to Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in Lagos for the Christmas and New year festivities.
The items donated were 1,000 bags of 12.5kg rice and 2 million cash grant for logistics support through Lagos State Office for Disability Affairs (LASODA) on Saturday.
In interviews with Inclusive News Network, INN, Disability clusters showed appreciation to the church for the food items. However, as is typical of insatiable humans – and very much like Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, the clusters lamented inadequacy of the provision to go round.
Representative of the physical disability cluster in LASODA, Salami Toyin noted “God sent relief at this season of the yuletide when our people need to feel the impact of living and not mere existing. We thank the man of God. Although it was not enough to go round, a sizeable number of our members benefited and they are grateful.
“Moreso, It is my opinion that while donors have preference of who or where they want to direct their charity, Lagos State Office of Disability Affairs is more encompassing if you are concerned about people with disability in the State.”
Nigeria Association of the blind, (NAB) Lagos chapter chairman, Babatunde Mohammed stated that his cluster is grateful that they were considered for the gift. He however added that he has been struggling to absolve the problem of sharing among the members as some members lack understanding.
TB Joshua Distributes Palliatives
“Though we have over 300 registered members, the eighty pieces received will help a little. We thank the church sincerely for the kind gesture.
Commenting further, he said: “we however believe that it is important this kind of thing is done cluster by cluster. How do u give an orphanage home with twenty inmates 15 bags and give a cluster with 400 members 100 bags? They should deal with the different disability clusters separately if they want the benefits of their bounties to get to the needy”.
“Right now, I am struggling to solve the problems of sharing the rice as I am being inundated with phone calls because it couldn’t go round and some the members lack the needed understanding in situations like this”.
Chairman of Lagos Albinism Awareness society, Omolola Josephine, who was represented by her PRO, Onasanya Mojeed appreciated the donor and his team for the food items, he however noted that the 55 bags of rice received were not enough for over one thousand members.
“We were given 55 bags and immediately we exhausted the bags, we left there. We shared it based on the people who came.
“So, some of our member that came after did not receive. Frankly speaking, the number of bags allotted us was not enough, given our numbers. They should have given us more. We have about 1,000 families. Some family had more than one.
“Notwithstanding, we, the Lagos Albinism Awareness society use this medium to appreciate the donor, Pastor TB Joshua, we also thank LASODA and team. God will continue to enrich them all.
“I know many donors are out there with good intentions of charity but don’t know the trusted channel to follow. They should follow through LASODA and JONAPWD. Definitely, it will get to the right set of targeted people.
Lagos State Association of the Deaf (LSAD) acting Chairman, Mallam Issa Ahmadu Usman represented by Assistant General, Kingsley Njoku asserted that the “LSAD Excos and its entire members feel grateful to Prophet TB Joshua and Emmanuel TV for the generous donation of 80 bags of rice (15kg) and 80k cash to the Deaf Community.
Explaining further he said “Personally, I feel elated because this gesture is coming at a time the covid 19 pandemic is ravaging nations across the globe.
LSAD is happy and appreciative of the kind gesture.
“Though the item given was grossly insufficient going by the large population of the Deaf cluster in Lagos State. We managed to distribute 3 Bags each to LGA Deaf Association at local level.
“I would rather NGOs and philanthropists wanting to reach the Deaf Community with their largess liaison with leadership of the Deaf Community in getting accurate information or data on the size of our population, if at least by half”
Abdulwahab Matepo, the chairperson of Spinal Cord Injuries Association of Nigeria (SCIAN), Lagos chapter said he was happy at the gesture extended by T B Joshua.
He added that “all clusters and NGOs were invited by LASODA and they all came. The donors were assured that the item will be delivered to everyone for which it was meant.”
When asked why all PWDs weren’t present at the venue, he said it’s due to Covid-19 regulations.
Earlier, the General Manager of LASODA, Mr Oluwadamilare Ogundairo appreciated the gesture extended by pastor T B Joshua and for recognising LASODA’s position as the link between the government and PWDs in the State.
He urged donors to do more, as PWDs are in thousands in the State. He also called on other organizations to emulate the gesture.