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•Grand Lodge seeks financial support
From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The economic hardship buffeting the country has taken a toll on motherless babies homes, especially in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in Abuja.
The dire situation of the children has prompted the Grand Lodge of Nigeria to begin soliciting support from philanthropists and the government for the indigent and very young Nigerians.
The group’s Grand Master, Osiobe Okotie, who made the appeal yesterday when he led his members to the Destined Children Orphanage in Abuja, to mark the Lodge’s annual convention, said the wealthy should cater for the needs of the poor.
Okotie explained the gesture was part of the mandate of the group to support the underprivileged in any host community of their annual convention.
He charged the management to judiciously utilise the resources, warning that the Lodge would not tolerate the siphoning of the resources as has been done in most motherless babies’ homes.
He said: “We are members of the charity project, you understand? It’s part of us. So that is what we are doing. We must carry out a charity project. And now we’re in Abuja. It is part of our plan to visit this orphanage and put a smile on these little children.”
On her part, Administrative Manager of the orphanage, Sarah Chukwuemeka, said the gesture would assuage the plight of over 50 children under her care.
Chukwuemeka said the paucity of funds had made it difficult for the management to run the affairs of the home.
She said: “Challenges so far, I would say, are food and funding because what we don’t provide as food, we have to provide for their education and the electricity bill. And where we stay, we have to also pay the water bill.
“So we pay water bills, electricity, and a lot of bills. So funding is one of the biggest challenges we have, but I am thanking everyone that has, in one way or another, assisted us. May God bless them.
“They eat, they go to school. So we need a lot of support. It is not easy, but let’s just give glory to God. We have about 45 children, who are between the age of one month old and 19 years old.
“On behalf of these children, I’m grateful for the cash and food items given to us, especially where the country is experiencing economic challenges, and we’re grateful for the people that came to visit us from time to time.”
