By Juliet Umeh

The Foundation of Truth Assembly, Ajah, Lagos, has distributed school bags and other educational materials to about 2,500 children as part of its 2026 Back to School humanitarian initiative.

The initiative, now in its sixth year, is aimed at supporting children, particularly those from poor and vulnerable families, to prepare for the new academic session.

Speaking on the initiative, Lead Pastor of the church, Pedro Omontuemhen, said the programme was part of the church’s commitment to impacting its immediate community beyond preaching and prayers.

Omontuemhen said, “What we do every year is to give children going back to school school bags, pencils, biros, erasers and everything they need for school.

“The inspiration is really that we are looking for a way as a church to impact society. How can we be the salt of the earth and the light of the world? How can we be a blessing to the community?”

He explained that the beneficiaries were not required to belong to the church or any particular religion before receiving the items.

“People that come here are not necessarily church members. Half of them are not even Christians. We don’t ask them what religion they belong to. Whether you are a Christian, Muslim, Hindu or whatever it is, we just say, come, take and be blessed,” he said.

According to him, the biggest beneficiaries over the years have been poor families and widows.

He recalled that a widow who attended last year’s programme with her four children received a school bag and other items for each child.

“If you do the numbers, even at today’s rate, we are looking at N25,000 per bag times four. You are giving the family N100,000. We are not asking for votes. We are not asking you to become a church member. We just want to be a blessing to them,” Omontuemhen said.

He disclosed that although the church had initially planned to reach 3,000 children this year, available resources made it necessary to target about 2,500 beneficiaries.

The pastor said the church deliberately chose education because September was usually a difficult period for many parents, who had to contend with school fees, uniforms, books and other expenses.

“You cannot be a church and not impact your community. We don’t just want to impact them with shouting and prayers alone. We also want to have an impact on their finances and their well-being,” he said.

Omontuemhen said the programme started with about 100 beneficiaries in its first year before rising to 800 and subsequently expanding.

He attributed the growing number of beneficiaries to word-of-mouth publicity and the increasing confidence of members of the public in the programme.

On funding, he said the initiative was supported by church members, families, friends, associates and non-members, with donations ranging from N5,000 to N5 million.

“The highest donation we have this year was N5 million. The lowest was N5,000 from a National Youth Service Corps member who is not a member of our church.

“Because people now see that this is genuine, not fake, they are able to supply and support us,” he said.

Chairperson of Back to School 2026, Iyoha Oluwatoyin, said this year’s turnout was overwhelming, attributing it partly to increased publicity.

She said beneficiaries were mainly children of school age, from about five to 16 or 17 years, adding that the organisers did not discriminate on the basis of religion, ethnicity or background.

According to her, the programme also helps to boost the confidence of children returning to school.

“Every child wants to look comfortable and appealing. So, when they are going back to school and their school bag is intact, in a way, we are building confidence in these children and preparing them for the school session,” she said.

In charge of logistics and planning, Obinna Nnochiri, said organising the programme required extensive volunteer work, including sourcing stationery, packing materials, coordinating volunteers and managing distribution.

Nnochiri, who has been part of the committee since inception, said rising prices of school bags, stationery and logistics remained major challenges.

He added that crowd management and the health of beneficiaries were also key concerns, noting that the organisers deployed security and a medical team to prevent emergencies.

“We have a medical unit that attends to the children and provides emergency treatment. We have to make sure there is no casualty and that no child faints or collapses,” he said.

Two beneficiaries, Sarah Ezekiel and Christian John, both JSS 2 students, expressed appreciation for the initiative.

Ezekiel said, “I feel so happy and excited. I want to say thank you to all of you that have given me this bag. I pray God supports you for more.”

John, who was attending the programme for the first time, said, “I feel excited collecting this bag today. I say thank you to them for giving me this bag.”