The Omega Power Ministries (OPM) worldwide has reopened its free restaurant in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to help feed the less privileged people following the stay at home order declared by government to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
A statement issued on Tuesday by Pastor Isaiah Gogo-Ogute, Public Relation Officer of OPM, quoted Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere, the General Overseer of the church as saying that the move was to serve as palliative during the lockdown.
Chinyere said the gesture was also to support the efforts of government in curtailing the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which is ravaging many countries.
The statement quoted Chinyere as saying that the free restaurant would serve takeaway food to the less privileged people in Port Harcourt and its environs during the lockdown.
“The reason for the takeaway is to maintain social distancing and to ensure that government policies on coronavirus are kept while the poor and less privileged are saved from massive hunger and starvation.
“The food is for everybody just like our schools and hospitals; the gesture is for everybody – Christians, Muslims and pegans. My vision is not to buy private jet but to prepare people to make heaven.
“OPM free restaurant has been in operation for seven years but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we decided to give food to people as takeaway instead of them coming to sit down to eat; we also gave them money.
“Church is not about collecting offering from members, it is also about assisting them and the less privileged during crisis period.
“There are many families that their source of livelihood is selling in the market but now they have been shut down and children are hungry. So, how will such people feed, if not through this means,” the statement quoted Chinyere as saying.
He commended the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, for shutting down the state to stop the spread of the virus.
The clergy urged Nigerians to stay safe as the virus was real.
“We should fight the virus seriously and we should also pray because it is only God that can remove it, not paracetamol or chloroquine. I know that God will help us discover a vaccine that will solve this problem,” he added.