OVER 3,000 residents of Abule-Nla, in Apapa Road, Ebute Metta area of Lagos State, have benefitted from the largesse of a non-governmental organisation, 5 Loaves 2 Fishes Humanitarian Outreach, which gave out food, medicare, clothing and shoes in the spirit of the season.

The group, an arm of Foundation of Truth Assembly (FOTA), gave out the goods to residents, which cut across all categories of people living in the area, among whom were children, adults and the aged, irrespective of their religious affiliation or faith.

For the period the programme lasted, residents came in large numbers into the Banjo Nursery & Primary School, Ilaje Ilogbo, venue of the event for their own share of the goodies offered by the outreach.

The Senior Pastor of the Church, Rev Yomi Kasali, said the yearly event is part of the programmes of the church, done twice in the year, to reach out to poor communities in Lagos during festive seasons.

“It is a tripartite programme, we try to give people food, cloth them and we also give them medical healthcare. We have been doing this for nine years now, and it is our initiative. We know that there are quite a lot of poor people, when you consider how wealthy this country is, we feel that the little we can do, as a church during Easter and Christmas is to show them love. We also have a full-time clinic in our church.

“We take the programme from place to place. We’ve been to Makoko, Orile, Apapa and other areas and we think we should move here, because people in this community may not have resources to go as far as where we’ve been doing it. We are moving it around so that other places can also benefit,” he said.

The Associate Pastor of the church, Pedro Omontuemhem, said the Ilaje Ilogbo was picked, because it is a very poor community, noting that despite the hardship in the country, the church was still able to perform the annual rite because they see it as a sacrifice and passion to make people happy. “The idea is that people should not go to bed hungry.”

A beneficiary appreciated the group for the gesture, praying that God will continue to empower them. She appealed to churches and individuals to replicate such gesture by assisting the less privileged in the society.