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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Culture & Society

Nigerian officials urge selflessness to reduce poverty

From The Punch · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Nigerian officials urged citizens to practice selflessness and mutual support to combat grassroots poverty.
  • An empowerment program provided N100,000 grants to over 150 traders and artisans.
  • Students received bursaries and laptops, emphasizing the need to extend opportunities to the less privileged.

Local government chairman Lanre Oyegbola-Sodipo and All Progressives Congress chieftain Ibrahim Quadri have called for greater selflessness and mutual support among Nigerians to alleviate poverty at the grassroots level. Their remarks came during an empowerment program organized by the Eniobanke Foundation.

One of our major problems is that many Nigerians are not always ready to allow the opportunity that they have to flow back to the people at the grassroots. They have forgotten that those opportunities were given to them so that others can also benefit from them; that is how we can make the country better.

— Lanre Oyegbola-SodipoChairman of Abeokuta North Local Government, explaining the challenge of unequal opportunity distribution.

The foundation provided financial assistance to over 150 traders and artisans, granting each N100,000. Additionally, 50 tertiary institution students from the state received N50,000 bursaries each, with ten students earning laptops for their academic achievements.

Oyegbola-Sodipo expressed concern that individuals often hoard opportunities for personal gain, hindering the benefits of democracy from reaching ordinary citizens. He stressed that opportunities should be shared to improve society, drawing a parallel with the foundation's initiative.

That is exactly the lesson we should all take away from this empowerment programme. The initiator of this selfless act believes that he has been given the opportunity, and he is reaching out to the women, the artisans and the students in the state.

— Lanre Oyegbola-SodipoHighlighting the importance of the Eniobanke Foundation's initiative.

Quadri, the foundation's founder, stated his belief in giving back to society and uplifting humanity. He emphasized the importance of supporting one another, particularly market women and artisans, by providing training in money management and cash grants to boost their businesses. The foundation also plans to continue supporting students with bursaries each academic session.

It’s my strong belief that we should learn to support one another; it is what we have always done. So this time around we said that we should reach out to our market women and artisans, we should train them on money management and give them cash grants to boost their trade.

— Ibrahim QuadriFounder of Eniobanke Foundation, explaining the motivation behind the empowerment program.

Both officials highlighted the ripple effect of such initiatives, suggesting that widespread adoption of this selfless culture could significantly improve the nation's socio-economic landscape. Oyegbola-Sodipo noted that the local government has also empowered over 200 women, reinforcing the idea of a continuous chain of support.

We are equally supporting 50 students with N50,000 each as bursaries, and we hope to be giving them every session.

— Ibrahim QuadriDetailing the educational support provided by the foundation.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by The Punch in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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