Tony Ogaga
An umbrella body of the indigenes of Akpo community in Anambra State, Apko Nnaa, has reached out to the vulnerable indigenes, following the biting effect of COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed thousands of lives across the globe.
In a chat with Daily Sun, the immediate past president-general of the community, GOC Ezeno, said the pandemic had raised very serious concerns for everybody and brought untold hardship, particularly to the downtrodden across the country. “In the light of the above, the need to organise palliative measures in order to cushion its effects and the subsequent lockdown cannot be over emphasized. Consequently, our town, Akpo, through its online platform called Akpo Nnaa brought up the matter. Initially, there were challenges but eventually people bought into it. Then we appealed to sons and daughters of the community for contributions, and the response was overwhelming. Within a space of one week, we raised N1.5 million, which we have already disbursed to about 159 vulnerable indigenes,” he said.
On the criteria used to select the beneficiaries, Ezeno said: “The criteria were a problem when we started. Some people thought the people are proud and wouldn’t want to identify with such an initiative because it would seem like they are soliciting for assistance. So, the administrator of our WhatsApp group decided to nominate people who were seen as being vulnerable. We had sleepless nights on how best to get this going and after extensive brainstorming, we were able to come to a compromise and people began to contribute to a dedicated account, and we realised as much as N1.5 million. Let me state categorically that most of the beneficiaries were caught unawares.”