The Founder and General Overseer of Omega Power Ministries (OPM), Apostle Chibuzor Gift Chinyere, has received a second batch of Nigerians evacuated from South Africa, providing them with free accommodation and welfare support in Port Harcourt as part of the church’s resettlement initiative.

Speaking on Friday while receiving the returnees, Chinyere said the latest arrivals were welcomed into a mini estate acquired by the ministry, where they joined an earlier batch already resettled under the programme.

He disclosed that more Nigerians affected by the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa are expected to arrive in the coming days and weeks.

According to him, the initiative fulfils his earlier promise to provide free accommodation and support for Nigerians returning from South Africa.

The cleric said the returnees are provided with permanent rent-free housing in OPM estates, free medical care at the church’s hospitals, feeding and automatic scholarships for their children.

To support their reintegration, the ministry has also procured a dedicated bus to transport the children to school and convey the families to church services.

Reports indicate that the beneficiaries have already been settled into OPM estates in Port Harcourt, with their children enrolled in schools while the families receive welfare support to rebuild their lives.

Chinyere said the intervention was inspired by discussions with a Nigerian who had lived in South Africa for more than two decades and explained that many Nigerians were reluctant to return home because they had established businesses, families and livelihoods there.

“Many of them have homes, marriages, children in school and businesses in South Africa. They have built their lives there and fear returning to Nigeria with nothing waiting for them,” he said.

He explained that OPM used funds generated through tithes and offerings to acquire the estate for the returnees, adding that every new arrival undergoes medical screening and treatment at the church’s free hospital before being resettled.

He further disclosed that the wives of the returnees receive start-up capital to establish small businesses, while their children are automatically enrolled in any of the ministry’s 43 free schools.

Chinyere said the programme initially prioritises women and children because they are the most vulnerable.

“A man can manage somehow, but the woman and children are the vulnerable,” he said.

He also announced plans to introduce a skills acquisition programme for men who lost their businesses in South Africa. The training will be conducted at the OPM Multi-Skill Acquisition Centre and will be recognised by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity.

According to the cleric, the Port Harcourt resettlement programme is part of OPM’s broader humanitarian initiatives, which include 18 free housing estates, 43 free schools, two specialist hospitals, a skills acquisition centre, a school for children with autism and Down syndrome, an all-girls technical college and more than 10,000 local and international scholarships.

He said the humanitarian projects are funded through tithes and donations from well-meaning Nigerians.

Chinyere noted that the ministry had previously undertaken similar interventions, including relocating the family of the late Deborah Samuel to Port Harcourt and providing them with housing in 2022.

He appealed to the federal and state governments, as well as international organisations, to partner with the ministry, noting that the growing resettlement programme has become increasingly capital-intensive as more returnees are expected.