‘Empower indigent women by giving them source of livelihood’

How have you been impacting the lives of the less privileged in the country?We have made impact on the lives of countless Nigerians through different philanthropic programs such as free surgeries, food drives, donation of clothing, and currently the rehabilitation of internally displaced Nigerians. It seems the number of the needy is rising daily. That’s […]

How have you been impacting the lives of the less privileged in the country?
We have made impact on the lives of countless Nigerians through different philanthropic programs such as free surgeries, food drives, donation of clothing, and currently the rehabilitation of internally displaced Nigerians.
It seems the number of the needy is rising daily. That’s why Body Enhancement Foundation is strategically creating and implementing charity programs that will not give “a man fish to eat, but teach him how to fish”.
 
What is your campaign, RIDWC all about?
Rehabilitate Internally Displaced Women and Children. Since we took on the challenge of rehabilitating internally displaced Nigerian women and children due to insurgency, our focus is to “rehabilitate” them, not give them “relief.”
Giving donations of food, mattresses, etc is giving relief; it’s not helping them get back on their feet and reintegrating them into society. Of course they need relief, as they have no means of fending for themselves, but that’s what they’ve been receiving for months.
In order for them to regain their dignity and start earning a living again, regardless of what petty trade they used to do before becoming displaced; they have to be assisted via enabling them to be self sufficient again.
We have already started this process in both Gombe and Adamawa states. As you know, there are many displacement camps in different states and the number of occupants differ due to the size of the camp.
In Gombe, we rehabilitated women in two camps after conducting a survey of their skills, ages, village of origin and how many children each woman has. Not even government officials had asked these people what they did for a living prior to being displaced!
After getting the information, we purchased all they needed to commence their businesses. We gave them sewing machines; money for petty trade, fabrics to trade, paid their rent, gave items needed for local food processing, clothing, food and also toys to the children.
In Yola, we set up a school for 501 internally displaced children at a camp between the ages of one to 14yrs old. We gave them uniforms, shoes, writing materials and have hired the teachers amongst the displaced Nigerians at the camp; and now pay them monthly to teach the children.
 
Why is the campaign focused on only women and children?
Women and children are the most vulnerable in every society. Regardless of how wealthy or poor a man is; it’s the woman’s responsibility to ensure her children are fed, educated and taken care of. Yes, the displaced men also need assistance, but they are not our primary targets.

At those camps, we met some women as young as 30 years old with 10 children! Some in their early 40s with 17 children! The fact is no one has the right to dictate how many children a woman should have, as long as they can be taken care of.
Before Boko Haram destroyed their homes and killed their loved ones, they were taken care of. Unfortunately, now that they are displaced, they have become a liability, as there is no means of feeding them. Once we help these women regain financial independence, they will be able to reintegrate into society and they can put their children into schools.
 
How do you intend making the women financially independent?
They lived in rural areas and have similar trades; tailoring, farming, petty trading among others. Those that currently don’t have any skills but wish to acquire some have also been listed and we will pay for them to learn.
Upon successful completion of their training programs, we will give them all necessary tools to start their own businesses. That’s the strategy we have initiated because this will enable the women take care of themselves and their children with the hopes that this will also motivate them to send their children to school.
It’s everyone’s desire to receive assistance to improve the quality of their lives; these people are no exception.
Our goal in the RIDWC campaign is to; one  create awareness of their plight and also raise funds to help rehabilitate them. As you know, their numbers run into millions! Unfortunately, we don’t have adequate funding to help those we already have on our list from the camps we visited; that’s why an international campaign has been initiated to raise funds to do this.
 
Why is this so important to you?
It should be important to everyone! Shouldn’t it be? If this happened to you or someone you know, wouldn’t you want help? I know I would! A great deal of focus is put on those killed by Boko Haram, but what about those that survived their attacks and have become traumatized, homeless and displaced because of these attacks? Don’t they also need the opportunity to regain their dignity and integrate into society like you and I?
 
Were you not concerned about your safety while carrying out these activities in those areas?
 I was neither scared then nor am I now. We carefully analyzed where we were going to, made inquiries and made adequate preparations based on the situation on ground.
Ironically, our donation ceremony to the displaced Nigerians in Gombe was on February 12th, we left Gombe in the afternoon on the 13th, just hours before Boko Haram invaded the city! It was surreal!
People were calling us from Gombe crying, terrified and telling us what was going on and I could hear the bomb blasts from the Nigerian Air Force fighter planes fighting back the terrorists.
It was crazy because my team and I almost decided to stay in Gombe for the weekend to rest because it’s such a peaceful state; but one of my team members had to return to Lagos because his wife would kill him if he wasn’t home for Valentine’s Day. That was why we left that day. If not, we would have been there when Boko Haram temporarily entered the city.
 One thing one should always remember is none of us is above being a victim of circumstance. We only scaled through by the grace and mercy of God. None of us is better than those that were on their way to work trying to earn a living to feed themselves and their families when terrorists detonated bombs where they were.
Nor are any of us less sinful than those that were in their homes when heartless killers came to their villages to kill their husbands/sons/brothers, take away their daughters/wives/sisters and destroyed all they owned.
With that in mind, one should have the fear of God and within one’s means, try to help those in dire need. You have no right to expect help or favour from others when you don’t render the same to others.
Helping those that are at the “bottom of the food chain” is what gives me fulfilment. At this point in my life, I won’t do anything that does not give me ultimate satisfaction and fulfillment.
 
How have you been able to raise funds for this project of yours?
 Body Enhancement Limited along with my other businesses are major sponsors of our humanitarian activities. We have an official partnership with the Nigeria Customs Service through which they give us foods and relief materials to give at our discretion, and DANA Group supports us with medication to give to the poor; but that’s not enough to accomplish all the programs we have to do.
Individuals do make financial and clothing donations but we need much more as these programs are capital intensive. We need more corporate sponsors along with more individuals to financially support our programs because their donations go to those we set out to help.
We Nigerians have to learn to be more pro-active in financially supporting genuine non-profit organizations not to sit around and send us emails praising us!