By Etop Ekanem

LAGOS—THE Territorial Commander of the Salvation Army, Nigeria Territory, Colonel Victor Leslie, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to partner with organisations as his to provide employment for the youths and care for the needy

Leslie, who spoke in Lagos during a briefing to announce the national appeal week fund-raising project scheduled to begin from October 1-7, 2015, said the youths should be empowered to discourage them from engaging in criminal activities, saying an idle hand was the devil’s workshop.

On the national appeal week fund-raising project, Leslie said: “One of the ways we have adopted for some years now to raise funds for our charitable work is to approach the public at their places of work, homes, streets, market places etc. The method is pursued as a way to solicit for funds, tagged ‘Join us to help others.

“In the first week of October every year, our officers and soldiers go out with branded buckets/envelops and request members of the public to donate whatever amount they can afford, no matter how little.

“The money so realised is judiciously used to meet human needs in God’s name without discrimination whatsoever.”

The cleric listed some of the movement’s social work in Nigeria to include rehabilitation centre for physically challenged persons, homeless babies, timely intervention with emergency relief and safety materials during disasters such as refuge’s crisis.

He said: “Presently, we are actively involved in the northern part of Nigeria where we have been rendering services to the internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Bon-Dong camp in Kaduna State.

“These require a lot of funding. A lot of resources had gone to uphold this mission in the past years. We sincerely appreciate individuals and organisations that have over the years, identified with the Army’s vision through material and financial support. However, there is still much to be done. Therefore, we plead with our partners and donors to show more interest in funding humanitarian programme of the Salvation Army.”