Bishop Sunday Onuoha has said that if God’s love can be made manifest in the society, it is only when people give back, especially to those who can’t repay such gestures.
The President of Vision Africa and Co-Chair Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP) said this during the event of the 9th Annual Humanitarian Public Lecture in commemoration of International Day for Disaster Reduction organised by Institute for Humanitarian Studies and Social Development (IHSD), on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to him, “if the love of God can be made manifest in the society, it is only when we give back to the needy and impoverished, especially with hundreds and thousands of Nigerians displaced in the North East and scores of others suffering in prison.
“If our society will be better, it is only when we remember that there are hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced in the North East who are homeless and crying for help and we are pretending as though we have settled the matter in the North East; the matter in the North East has not been settled.
“I want to call and request that if the love of God can be made manifest in the society, it is only when we give out to those who cannot say thank you to us.”
He decried the sufferings faced by Nigerians in prison and others in the North central as well as those who lost their businesses due to the pandemic.
“When you go to the prisons and see the level of suffering and pain – people have been forgotten. Go to our orphanages and IDP camps and see the level of neglect we have.
“Those who have been raped and rendered homeless and they cannot go to their farms in the North Central are suffering and crying for help and we are pretending as though it is well, it is not well.
“There are thousands of people who as a result of COVID that we all suffered, their businesses, organisations are shut down and they cannot pay for the school fees of their children.
“This is a time to look out for those who can volunteer their resources and business to look out for those who are in need,” Onuoha said.
He commended the efforts of the Institute and expressed hope that someday, volunteerism would be made compulsory for undergraduates so that “we begin to inculcate it in the minds of people who are graduating; that life is meaningless except if you give some hours out to the services of others.”
The opportunity the event offers, he said, is to see that there is an institution that is training people from all over the country so that men and women can be moved to inspire people. He also decried the alarming rate at which people live luxuriously, neglecting the people suffering in various parts of the country.
“When you go to villages and see the communities and see the level of suffering and pain, and see the level of affluence in our society, you’ll see the resources we are wasting in living luxurious life that is not necessary and see the number of people that are suffering, you will weep,” Bishop Onuoha added.
He therefore thanked the Institute for the opportunity given to Vision Africa to do what it has been doing for almost thirty years which is giving back to the society.
The Bishop received a “Honorary Distinguished Humanitarian Fellowship Award” from the Institute, in recognition of the efforts he has made in humanitarian and selfless services
