* IDPs On The March 
The Christian Fellowship Media Practitioners (CFMP) on Tuesday donated relief materials to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Abuja.

 The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the relief items include bags of rice, toiletries, fairly used clothes, cartons of noodles, among others.

 Donating the items on behalf of CFMP, Pastor Zakari Emmanuel, the Chaplain, Chapel of Restoration, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), told the IDPs that the gesture was in demonstration of their love and kindness.

 Emmanuel urged the displaced persons to remain hopeful for a brighter future and encouraged them to trust and give thanks to God for their lives.

 “Some of you will tomorrow be proprietors of schools, senators, ministers, governors, among others in the country.

 “Someday, somewhere, you will tell your children, ‘I was somewhere, sometime, but God has brought me now to a better place’”, he said.

 The NAN Chaplain, Rev. Felix Ajide, prayed with the IDPs, adding that the brethren in the media had come to rejoice with them.

 “Everyone you see here are from the FRCN, Voice of Nigeria (VON), NAN, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and the Ministry of Information,” he said.

 In his sermon, Rev. Nelson Akinwande, Chaplain, NTA Chapel of Resurrection, exhorted the IDPs from the book of Psalm 124, admonishing them to focus on God who could save.

 He encouraged them not to give in to depression due to their present condition; praying that God would turn around their situation.

 “Many of you will have stories to tell when you return home in gladness and joy as the Lord will restore you all into normalcy and wipe away your tears.

 “You must be of good courage and be expectant of what God wants you to be; trust Him who has given you lives, because He is able to sustain you all through,” he said.

 Mr Philemon Emmanuel, who responded on behalf of the IDPs, thanked the media practitioners for counting them worthy of being visited; particularly appreciating them for their donations and words of encouragement.

 Emmanuel, however, appealed to the Federal Government to intensify its efforts towards ensuring IDPs are returned to their places as soon as possible. (NAN)