Firstrst female one-star general in the Nigerian Airforce, Air Commodore Habiba Ruth Garba, has won this year’s Karis award.
The award is organized yearly by to be another grand event Rev. Chris Okotie and members of his Household of God Church, Oregun, Lagos. The chairman of the occasion is Gen Martin Luther Agwai, CFR, Deputy chairman of Sure-P and former chief of Army Staff; while the special guest of honour is Air Marshal Nsikak Edouk, CFR, Former Chief of Air Staff. The programme comes up on the 8th of December 2013, at the church’s 5-star auditorium, by 5.30pm prompt. It promises to be another grand event.
The gathering is treated to the Reverend’s exciting and inspiring brand of gospel songs which the enthusiastic crowd dance to, apart from his riveting sermon, and a slew of entertaining side showsThe GRACE programme is known, not only just for the donation of cash to charities but the Karis award that is given to Nigerians who have excelled in their respective fields but are not well recognised by the larger society. The recipient will get one million naira. The selection of an Ambassador for the church through the prestigious Queen Esther pageant competition is one of the highlights of the occasion. The evening usually features the parade and display of beautiful women in costumes inspired by popular female bible characters. It is indeed an evening of divine glamour in this unique costume pageant competition. The contestant with the most creative costume is then crowned as the Queen Esther and gets a cash prize of one million naira.
GRACE started in 1990 as Rev Okotie’s vision to give back to society by reaching out to the less privileged who are made to benefit from the compassion of Jesus Christ. During the event, four charitable organizations have traditionally been given cash donations of one million naira every year. The usual beneficiaries are – Sunshine Foundation, Strong Tower Mission, Pacelli School For The Blind and Partially Sighted and Spinal Cord Injuries Association.
Thus for 23 years, the Household of God has championed the course of the underprivileged who look forward to the love feast every year with keen interest. In 1996, the Reverend conceived the KARIS award as recognition of unsung Nigerian heroes/heroines who, due to some errors of omission were not duly appreciated by the government in their generation. KARIS was later subsumed in the GRACE event.