500 widows empowered in Kwara
By Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin
No fewer than 500 widows from across the 16 local government areas of Kwara state have been empowered with various working tools, including cash donations, worth millions of Naira.
Speaking while distributing the cash donations and working tools in Ilorin, the state capital, the sponsor of the empowerment programme, Mr. Kolo Baba Jiyah, said the spirit behind the empowerment is to support the widows to enable them meet up with the life challenges.
He said: “As a village boy, who faced so many challenges while growing up, I saw the need to come to the aid of the widows to enable them live a meaningful life and to also enable them to assist their immediate families.
“I know what life means for a widow to maintain and her children going by the prevailing economic situation in the country. It is incumbent on all that God has lifted up to support the downtrodden and less privileged people to also live a meaningful and purposeful life.”
The philanthropist, who is into hospitality, farming, shipping and manufacturing businesses and who had been conducting the empowerment programme annually for the past one decade, said what he is doing for the less privileged has no any political undertone, urging well meaning individuals and corporate bodies to support the needy, particularly the widows, in view of the huge load they are carrying.
He therefore urged the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the tools to improve their lives, urging them not to sell them as doing that would not be beneficial to them.
Earlier, an associate of the philanthropist, Alatare Suleiman Musa, lauded Jiyah for his kind gesture, noting that his empowerment programme has touched so many lives in Kwara state, adding that Nigeria needs people like Jiyah to reduce the poverty among the citizenry.
Also speaking, Asiwaju Nashood Shittu, Kwara South Senatorial aspirant on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NBPP), said there is high hope for Nigeria with the calibre of people like the donor, stressing that Jiyah is a good testimony of food things that would happen to Nigeria.
A widow, who is one of the beneficiaries, Mrs Funke Oyeniran, lauded the donor for his gesture and promised to make judicious use of the grinding machine given to her. She prayed God to continue to elevate the donor to greater heights, while urging other well heeled Nigerians to emulate gin in bringing smiles into the faces of the less privileged in the society.