Tony Osauzo, Benin
In a show of support and appreciation of their work, journalists were at the weekend in Benin City, given assorted food items.
Wife of former Managing Director of Nigeria Gas Company, a subsidiary of the NNPC, Mrs Joy Ogiemwonyi, said the gesture was in the spirit of the Easter celebration.
This is even as the Ogiemwonyi Campaign Organization also at the weekend commenced the distribution of food items to vulnerable persons int three senetorial districts of the state to help cushion the effect COVID-19 partial lockdown in the state.
The items comprising hundreds of bags of rice and beans, thousands of cartons of Indomie, vegetable oil, bags of salt and packs of bottled water, were formally handed over to members of the Campaign relief committee in Benin City.
Speaking at the event, the Chairman of Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi Campaign Organization, Hon. Samson Esemuede, said the gesture was a practical demonstration of the donor’s good human attributes.
He described Engr Chris Ogiemwonyi, a leading governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progrssives Congress (APC), as a man of integrity and compassion, who he said had been involved in charity works over the years, adding that the COVID-19 relief package was an extension of his way of giving back to the society .
He, therefore, enjoined members of the relief committee to endeavour to discharge their duty with a high sense of responsibility required of them, and without prejudice.
Receiving the items, the committee chairman, Mr I.K. Ebomwonyi, thanked Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi for identifying with the plight of the people of Edo at this critical time and assured that the items would be handed over to the senatorial leaders for onward distribution to the beneficiaries.
Similarly, Edo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, has distributed food items and other consumables to 800 people and Orphanages in Benin City in a bid to tackle wide-spread hunger arising from the lockdown effect of precautionary measures adopted by the state government to halt the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
The “help your neighbour” programme, a personal private initiative of the Commissioner, targeted unemployed female migrant returnees, aged women, mothers, widows, disabled, unemployed women and Orphanages.
Presenting the items, Prof. (Mrs) Omorogbe explained that it was aimed at complementing government efforts and that she was moved to act by the many complaints of hardship as a result of the partial lockdown in the state.
She noted that many Nigerians were not finding things easy, saying “this is a challenging moment which should not be left for government alone but a period when everyone blessed by God should help the vulnerable in our midst without seeking political gain or advantage from the situations or challenges faced by fellow Nigerians”.
According to the Commissioner, “if all try to do something somewhere, it would make the world a better place”.
The beneficiaries who were full of happiness, thanked Prof. (Mrs) Omorogbe for her gesture and called on other Nigerians to emulate her good example.