Find Someone To Impact On, Delta Governor Tells Nigerians
Find somebody to impact on his/her life and that person will also learn at the person’s time to impact on the lives of others. It becomes a multiplier thing and within a short time, we will find out that we will be reaching out to many more persons than the government itself can do, Delta state governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, has said.
The governor who stated this Saturday during the official commissioning of the State Sickle Cell Referral Centre, at the Specialist hospital, Asaba, established by the 05 Initiative, a pet project of the governor’s wife, Dame Edith Okowa, noted that the multiplier effect of rendering help to people cannot be overemphasized.
In her speech, wife of the governor, Dame Okowa, revealed that the centre was established following the conviction that people with the disorder could live normal lives once they are able to easily access specialize healthcare provided by professionals and compassionate care givers.
She said the foundation has impacted on the lives for thousands of the poor and vulnerable through various programmes targeted at feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, providing shelter for the homeless, clothing the destitute and giving hope to the hopeless especially those in prisons.
In her words: “We are encouraged by the testimonies of direct beneficiaries of our programme but nothing compared to the joy of being an instrument in the hands of God to change another person’s story for good. The inner peace, joy, satisfaction that comes from helping those in need and reshaping their destinies, is a blessing that cannot be quantified in monetary terms”.
Corroborating her husband’s position, she urged Nigerians to be ‘our brother’s keeper’ as there are still many living in abject poverty and are unable to access quality healthcare, good education or live in decent shelters or live healthy, pointing out that the world is not about the luxury lifestyle one lives but is judged by the number of lives one is able to impact on.
While seizing the avenue to pray that governments at all levels would take appropriate action to redistribute the wealth of the nation and reduce the level of poverty, Dame Okowa, a woman with the heart of gold, said: “It is also our individual responsibility to lend a helping hand to the poor and vulnerable. I am not expecting you to change the world; all I ask is that you change the world of one person around you”, she stressed.
According to the wife of the governor, the Sickle Cell centre at the Specialist hospital, Asaba, raised the number to 13 established by the 05 Initiative across the state located in Agbor, Ughelli, Orere-Okpe, Kwale, Oleh, Eku, Sapele, Patani, Koko, Issele-Uku, Umunede and also Otu-Jeremi.
Dame Okowa had on Friday, celebrated her birthday with inmates at Ogwashi-Uku Prison.
The wife of the Edo state governor, Mrs. Betty Obaseki, charged her Delta counterpart to ensure that the referral center outlived her as the first lady of the state.
Earlier, the Director-General (DG), 05 Initiative, Mrs. Kevwe Agas, who went through memory lane, disclosed that the journey started in June 2015, with a vision coined from Matt 25:35-36 which formed the bedrock of the 05 Initiative anchored on the help ministry.
She disclosed that since 1st of June 2015, Dame Okowa has been running with the vision, while on 1st June 2016, the 05 Initiative was unveiled, stating that the team has visited all the prisons in the state with provision of drugs to inmates periodically, relocated an orphanage, the City of David to a better accommodation, provided school uniforms, sandals for school children, take the campaign against drug abuse, cultism and sexual immorality to secondary schools and have concentrated on sickle cell disorder on the platform of health just as she urged that the message of parents/guardians knowing ones genotype and that of their children/wards be preached.
Also, chairman of the occasion, Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN), noted that the scorecard of the 05 Initiative is as impressive as they have initiated and carried out many charity programmes involving sickle cell.
“They have given hope to the hopeless by making people living with sickle cell disorder positively acknowledge that they are warriors capable of surmounting the challenges brought on them by virtue of sickle cell disorder”.
He commended the 05 Initiative for the eye screening project undertaken to the 25 local government areas, free distribution of reading glasses and eye surgery offered to those in need of it, “the sickle cell referral centre we are commissioning today, undoubtedly will go a long way in reducing high mortality rate of persons living with sickle cell disorder. It is certainly a life safer in all ramifications of that expression, it is unique and special”.
Meanwhile, wife of the Akwa-Ibom state governor, Mrs Udom, commissioned the centre.