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From Stanley Uzoaru,Owerri
Irked by deaths following from struggling for palliative in Oyo, Anambra and Abuja, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has advised philanthropists from the South East to stop sharing food items, rather they should empower the people to fend for themselves.
Spokesman of the group, Emma Powerful, in a statement, said the deaths could have been avoided if proper empowerment opportunities like providing farm seedlings and equipment were ensured.
“Teach a man how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime, but if you give a man a fish, he will only eat one meal,” is a popular saying, “Therefore, we must avoid the repeat of the ugly event of December 21, 2024, by empowering and employing our people to reduce the state of engineered poverty that is ravaging Nigeria.
“To address this poverty menace, IPOB is calling on all Igbo philanthropists to stop sharing food items to the people instead, they should provide for them the seedlings for planting so that they can go back to the farm to produce what they will eat. Empower our people to go back to the farm by sharing natural seedlings as a means of reducing hunger in the land.
“Also, we encourage wealthy Igbo to help struggling youths go into useful endeavours and helpful employment to address the issue of poverty. Most importantly, IPOB has called on our people to bring their investments, factories, and businesses to Alaigbo to create employment opportunities for our teaming youths.
“Ndigbo are known for hard work and a self-sustaining way of life. IPOB commends the efforts of Igbo philanthropists. However, we wish to discourage the sharing of food items. We must not create a culture of dependency like what is obtainable in the northern region of Nigeria.
“Anyone that wishes to distribute palliatives in the future should ensure that proper procedures are put in place to avoid stampedes and other harms to our people. In the future, such free food distribution can be done in villages instead of one central place with an overwhelming crowd, and security must be put in place to ensure orderly distribution of the food.”
Powerful also exonerated the donor of the palliative in Anambra State, Obi Jackson, who he said has been rendering assistance to the downtrodden. However, he blamed the Federal Government for causing hunger in the country.
“It is noted that the philanthropic action of distributing free food items to women in the Okija community and beyond by Obi Jackson during Christmas has been going on for years. His good gestures should not be discouraged or demonised.
“In a sane country, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that poverty is not weaponised. Nigeria, as a country that has failed her citizens, is the reason people like Jackson stepped in to provide palliative for the poverty-stricken citizens.
“Nigerian politicians have weaponised poverty, which is why more than 80 Nigerians have died so far in December 2024 in Anambra State, Abuja, and Ibadan. As such, Jackson will not be blamed for lending support to the hungry citizens that resulted in the unfortunate deaths.”
