By Funmilayo Adeyemi
No fewer than 72 displaced families in Abuja have benefited from a humanitarian housing intervention aimed at providing shelter and restoring dignity to victims of insurgency, banditry and communal crises.
The beneficiaries received the accommodation support during the official presentation ceremony of Afri-mission’s Rental Housing Support Programme (RHSP) for Displaced Christians on Monday.
The President of Afri- mission and Evangelism Network (AMEN), Oscar Amaechina, said the project was inspired by the need to assist vulnerable persons living in uncompleted buildings and informal settlements across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the initiative was facilitated by AMEN, with support from the World Outreach Ministries International (WOMI) and the Ignited Church.
Amaechina explained that many displaced persons were outside official Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, making them difficult to identify and assist.
He said the organisation conducted a needs assessment survey across communities in Abuja to locate displaced families lacking proper shelter.
“I was inspired by the Holy Spirit to check out on those who are living in uncompleted buildings, with special attention to those who are displaced from their original homes due to insurgency, terrorism, and banditry in Nigeria.
“And we decided to have a need assessment survey where we try as much as possible to go into some places in Abuja here, because unfortunately most of them are not in IDP camps, and nobody will identify them.
“So it took a lot of work before we can get in touch with these people. And when I was able to get a good number of them, we decided by administering food items to them so that they can eat food,” he said.
According to him, the intervention, which cost between N12 million and N13 million, covered rent payments ranging from one to two years for the beneficiaries.
“I decided to communicate this vision to a dear friend of ours who lives in Lavona, Georgia.
“She’s a pastor (Jennifer Faircloth) and the wife of my late mentor in the person of Pastor Benjanin Faircloth. And she bought into the idea and key into it, and they really helped us immensely to see that we are able to secure accommodation for 72 families.
“And today is the ceremony, and we have already handed some of the apartments to some of them, and the remaining ones we do it just this week.”
He added that the beneficiaries were selected from an existing database of over 3,000 vulnerable persons, including women and children affected by insecurity.
Amaechina stressed that the programme was non-religious, noting that both Christians and Muslims benefited from the initiative.
“We meet those going through difficulties and challenges, especially those who are displaced by a suggestion of terrorism, whether you are a Christian or Muslim or a pagan, whatever it is, it’s not about religion this time around.
“It’s about humanity. We usually help them, and that is what we did this time around,” he said.
To ensure sustainability, he disclosed that the organisation was constructing a skill acquisition centre where beneficiaries would receive vocational and entrepreneurial training.
The centre, he said, would offer training in tailoring, cosmetology, catering, ICT, shoe and bag making, as well as adult literacy education.
He explained that training would last between six months and one year, after which participants would be empowered with tools to become economically self-reliant.
“I won’t promise you that we’ll keep on paying rent for them annually. It will be very difficult for us.
“But to be sure that they will be able to generate income, what we plan to do is to empower them so that they will have means of generating income for themselves.
“So for this edifice, can you tell us what we are meant for? What kind of training will be going on here? Yes, if you can see it, we have three blocks here.
“This one is a chapel (Pastor Benjamin Faircloth Auditorium) where prayers will be going on regularly and discipleship. So we really, for here now, we have tailoring. Here we have cosmetology and beauty service.
“We have the catering and baking. We have the ICT and then we have bead, bag and shoe making. We also have a classroom for adult literacy,” he added.
“We cannot continue paying rent indefinitely, so the goal is to equip them with skills that will enable them to sustain themselves,” he said.
Amaechina added that more than 300 women had already benefited from empowerment programmes under the initiative.
He also said that about 200 out-of-students were selected and would be enrolled in schools by september 2026.
He, however, appealed to individuals and organisations to partner with the mission, noting that about N56 million would be required to fully equip the vocational training centre.
One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Rose Ejigbo, who fled violence in Kaduna State in 2014, expressed gratitude for the assistance.
Ejigbo said she had survived through menial jobs before receiving accommodation support, describing the intervention as life-changing.
Another beneficiary, Zainab Abdullahi, displaced by bandit attacks in Plateau State, said the support restored hope after years of hardship living in an uncompleted building.
Both beneficiaries called on government and well-meaning Nigerians to strengthen efforts toward peace, security and humanitarian support for displaced persons. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Ekemini Ladejobi
