Well -meaning Nigerians and the government have been urged to pay compassionate attention to the plight of poor widows and indigent mothers in our society and to economically empower them so that they could provide for themselves and their families. This was the focus of a campaign rally held in Ikeja recently, organized by a humanitarian group, Voice of Divine Truth International Outreach in collaboration with a Uk- based Volunteer organization, Making Noise Group, Orkney, Scotland.
Apostle Azemobor Gregory , who is the leader of the humanitarian group told news men during the rally, “ The reason why we have unprecedented rate of crime, violence , depression and suicide in Nigeria in recent times, is because we do not have the culture of love. We as individual citizens do not show love to one another. Everybody is busy selfishly living for themselves without considering the welfare and the wellbeing of their neighbours. Most people in government are worse! They are only there to enrich themselves at the expense of the welfare of the masses. Nigeria has become the poverty capital of the world because of our collective greed, in spite of our stupendous resources. I have always maintained that the best approach to fight insecurity in Nigeria is through a robust social welfare system. The government should ensure that nobody lacks and concerted effort should be made to lift people out of poverty. I honestly do not think we could have peace when 80 million Nigerians go to bed hungry”
Speaking further Azemobor said, “poor widows and indigent mothers are suffering untold hardship as they are being neglected by society and the government, and that is why we initiated the Widows Empowerment Project last year to economically empower them with business opportunity training and free cash grant to ensure they run thriving petty businesses to cater for their family upkeep”
“This project is aimed at equipping indigent widows with petty business opportunities, skills and free capital to support start-ups or boost existing businesses with the objective of improving their livelihood ,Widows already running thriving petty businesses will receive a free grant of N20,000 ($60) to boost their businesses Widows interested in starting petty businesses will be trained, assessed and supported with a start-up capital of N20,000 ($60).This scheme is targeted to empower 10,000 widows and indigent mothers, between May 2018- December 2025
It is a fact that most widows have children and other dependents, whose livelihood will be positively impacted with this project. Over 150 widows and indigent mothers since the inception of the project last year, have received free cash grant of N20,000 each, either to start or boost their petty businesses.
Also Speaking at the event, the leader of the Uk-based organization – Making Noise Group, Mr. Theo Ogbhemhe, who came to Nigeria with some members of his group-Frankie Gauld, Anna Mackay, Liam Flannigan, to participate in the event, said, “We are here in Nigeria to support this noble initiative because of its far reaching impact in alleviating poverty and empowering indigent mothers. Let me urge kindhearted individuals and the government to always support the poor and the weak in order to create a better and a peaceful society. My group and I greatly appreciate what the Widows Empowerment Project is doing in Nigeria and that is why we decided to volunteer our support. We also have a numbers of projects to execute in Edo state (Benin City,& Auchi), We shall be visiting Abuja, to build a toilet facility for a public school, we brought a lot of books to share for indigent students, we shall also be organizing a seminar to educate female secondary students on self-development amongst others.” Mr Ogbhemhe concluded.