From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
Mr Okafor Chinedu is one of the recipients of the humanitarian awards held recently in Anambra State by Newsland Integrated Media Service (NIMS). The award also saw the launch of the maiden edition of a celebrity magazine by the company called ‘Humanitarian Magazine’.
Chinedu Okafor among other eminent personalities showered with the prestigious honour on his laudable impact towards humanity spoke to newsmen on what the award means to him.
“I am Mr Chinedu Okafor, an Entrepreneur, the Founder of VGH Group Of Companies that is Housing the VGH Homes VGH Music and Our Foundation. I hail from Anambra State and am a Humanitarian
“I am not surprised that such an honour is bestowed on my person, but I might say that I am equally awed by it because I have not set to attract such, rather people see my works and how I impact the society and decides to honour me with it,” Okafor said.
Talking about his works and impact, he mentioned that as a very passionate humanitarian and founder of a non-profitable organisation, he is a kind of person that goes out of his way to ensure that persons around him does not go to bed hungry.
“Every year, I take it upon my stride as a ritual and part of humanly call to organise an outreach to impact the lives of the less privileged among us. In each year from the inception of my outreach initiative, I usually distribute over 1000 bags of rice among other valuables to widows and less privileged people in communities within Anambra State. I runs an NGO foundation based in Nigeria. This brand image came as we recognise that extending arms beyond our locality or community is very essential.
My foundation was established 2 years. The idea of the foundation is to have a plan of actions that will accommodate an extension of our projects in Anambra and South East At Large. Thereafter, I came back and started the reach out programme in my own community in Anambra State, before stretching it out to other areas. We have done much for communities and individuals within Anambra for now. As we move on, we will identify other areas for coverage.”
For Chinedu, the core targets are specified to include indigent people in the society that cannot afford basic and meaningful livelihood.
“Our core targets are the widows and indigents who cannot afford to cater for themselves adequately, especially education funding and other means of livelihood. What we do is to gather information about their background and other vital information that authenticate the truth in their stories before enlisting them for help. About 6000 people have benefited from our programme for now and our target is to reach as many people as we can without count. Obviously, many people are in need and if we base it on counting, we may be derailed. So, we pick a small number per outreach and plan to reach more as the programme progresses.
“We have made tremendous impacts and these shows by the response we get from people. The reactions have been encouraging but to me, that does not really count because we are not doing it for feedback sake. That does not mean we don’t appreciate such, but it however inspires our objectives to create more programmes for the needy people.”
One would have thought that such a lofty idea did not come overnight. When asked how the idea of reaching out to the needy came about, okafor disclosed that his mother is the inspiration behind the humanitarian gestures in him. “This is an idea that emanated from my mother. She is a kind of woman who would not be happy to see her next door neighbour go hungry. I watch her sometimes when I was growing up as boy, package some food items which she gives to her neighbours even when there is not enough food in the house. She does it often and yet takes pleasure in doing it. Those are some of her legacy that inspired what I am replicating today in the society. In life, there is a need to make a change and always think of how to impact someone because this is the essence of human existence. No man is an island and people around you make a society. If they are happy, you are happy. If they are not, you won’t be happy alone.
Describing his persona, the Humanitarian and Enterpreneur Mr Chinedu Okafor a cheerful giver said, “As you can see, by the virtue of my profession, I am a Humanitarian. That implies I pay much emphasize on things that concerns citizenry. Secondly, we are human naturally before we became what we are. So, personally for me as an individual, I am inspired when other people are happy and also have food on their table,” Okafor concludes.