Faced with a near – death situation occasioned by acute hunger, a 22 – year- old mother of four working as a farm – render for little pay, has resorted to poultry and fish feeds as food to save the lives of her kids until they were rescued by the first lady of Akwa Ibom State, Patience Umo Eno, INIOBONG SUNDAY Writes From Uyo.
It was Senator David Mark, then minister of Communication under the former military junta of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) who, amid complaints of hunger by Nigerians weighed down by the belt – tightening measures of the Structural Adjustment Programme, SAP, opined that it was only when Nigerians started eating from the dustbin, that it would be understood that there was real hunger and starvation in the country.
Couple of decades later, the clear and present danger of hardship has hit every home, especially the very poor, like a hurricane.
In the oil – rich Niger Delta State of Akwa Ibom for instance, the twin hunger and starvation have since bared their fangs in many poor homes, despite federal and State governments’ palliative regime.
Exacerbated by the prevailing socio-economic challenges blamed mostly on the hurried removal of petroleum subsidy by President Bola Tinubu, soon after he was sworn – in on May 29, 2023, malignant poverty has become the order of the day especially in most homes across the rural Akwa Ibom.
“If you go to my communities in Oruk Anam local government area and, even across the 31 LGAs, poverty walks on four legs,” notes Mr. Saviour Akpan, Chief Executive Officer, CEO, in – charge of a Civil Society Organisation, CSO, COMPART Foundation, committed to good governance and civil rights advocacy and protection.
Therefore, the effects of the prevailing hardship and the bottled – up anger, our Correspondent learnt, gave rise to its ventilation during the just concluded 10 – day #EndBadGovernance protest that crippled socio-economic activities in most state capitals across the country.
Akwa Ibom State has its fair share of the endemic poverty, as checks by our Correspondent revealed that most families could barely afford three square meals adequately, not to talk about balancing their diets.
Bugged down by such helpless situation, Grace Udeme Esenowo, from Ikot Abia, Okon clan in Eket LGA, now 22, who got impregnated at 16, while still in the Senior Secondary 2 (SS 2), had to make frantic moves to weather the storm in order to wriggle her young family out of poverty to no avail.
Dropping out of school, she resided with her man, a union that has produced four children, but with no resources to care.
Faced by this stark reality, the man was said to have gotten a contract job to work in a chicken and fish farm, belonging to an Igbo businessman, who is an in – law to Akwa Ibom.
Together, they hoped to salvage it together with little income that could not sustain the family amidst complaints by the farm owner of stolen items.
To augment the little income from the farm, the man, in order to fend for his family, was forced to go into petty stealing.
Unfortunately, he was lynched by a mob action while trying to steal potatoes for the family meal, leaving her young widow and four children to continue to wallow in abject poverty.
Overwhelmed with empathy, a close relative was said to have offered a helping hand, taking one of the children to nurse, leaving three for the hapless mother in the farm.
The family, according to the Chief Press Secretary, CPS, to governor Eno’s wife, Mrs Uduak Ekong, when the family could no longer cope with extreme hunger, they had to resort to animal feeds as their food to assuage the hunger, until the farm owner discovered through frequent shortages of poultry and fish feeds.
“When the farm owner enquired about shortages of poultry and fish feeds, and Grace told him that they (herself and the children) were also feeding on the same animal feeds meant for the chicken and the fish, the man was deeply touched,” Mrs Ekong recalled.
“As we were feeding the chicken and the fishes, we were also feeding on the same feeds, that is the reason for the shortages in quantity of the poultry and fish feeds,” the mother of four was reported to have explained to the farm – owner, fighting back tears.
Continuing her narrative, Mrs Ekong, said: “When her daughter returned and heard the pathetic story from her father, she was moved to tears because it was strange to know that humans can also eat animal feeds and survived.
“It was at that point that she took to her Instagram handle and alerted the whole world to the pathetic situation of a family eating animal feeds in the middle of extreme hunger.
“Moved by pity, help started flowing in and the family was able to raise over N1.3 million, and the attention of the first lady was drawn to it. And under her pet – project, Golden Initiative For All, GIFA, a quick cash of N500,000 was delivered, with assurance of permanent solution to their case.
“Her Excellency’s attention was drawn to a trending story on the Instagram handle of one QueenPraise John Uzoma, popularly known as (NriNdioma ), on a 22 -year -old girl, Grace Udeme Esenowo from Ikot Abia, Okon Eket, who works on her father, Venerable John Uzoma’s farm in Eket local government area and feeds her four children with chicken and fish feeds.”
Currently, investigation revealed that the young lady has been settled in a rented apartment at Okon Eket area of Eket LGA, and according to QueenPraise, who manages the funds raised for the family upkeep, “She is there with her family under observation to ascertain her mental state.”
Explaining why she’s in charge of the proceeds of about N2 million naira, she said: “Since I was the one that alerted my father about their plight, having to feed themselves with poultry and fish feeds, as well as the world through my Instagram handle, for sympathetic donors to show concerns, the first lady entrusted me to manage the funds for them”.
“The plans are that her mental state will be examined to ascertain her true state of mental health, and after that she will be engaged in vocational skills.”
So far, part of the cash has been deployed into renting and furnishing the apartment, proper feeding of the family, while the first lady’ s N500,000 has been reserved for the education of the children.
In the same vein, apparently touched by the unbelievable case of a family feeding and surviving with poultry and feeding feeds, her employer, Venerable John Uzoma, it was learnt, has increased her N15,000 salary.
“We are going to be paying her the money whether she is working here again in this farm or not”, he assured.
But more worrisome to the distraught family under isolation with her children, is the additional burden placed on her as findings revealed that her blind father has also relocated to stay with the lady and the children in their new house, and is demanding for more cash.
And according to Mrs Ekong, that’s the new puzzle on the table to be resolved, but was uncertained whether the office of the first lady, trying to secure permanent accommodation for Ms Esenowo, and her young family, would also shoulder the burden.
Mrs. Ekong, therefore, explained that though GIFA, the pet – project of the governor’s wife is not vested with the capacity to build homes for the less – privileged, the office was presently in talks with the Humanitarian department of governor Umo Eno’s ‘ARISE Agenda’, with a view to securing a permanent home for them under the governor’s compassionate housing initiative.
Rallying other good – hearted individuals, corporate organisations and civil society groups to show empathy for the needy, the first lady, thanking QueenPraise, for drawing her attention to this worrisome situation, and raising about N1 million overnight from generous donors, gathered, has directed her NGO, GIFA, and her Aides to work with the ministry of Women Affairs and female stakeholders in Eket, to fashion out a holistic support for the young mother and her children.
“Our commitment to alleviating rural poverty cannot be compromised because we are very much concerned about how the people are faring especially in these hard times. That’s why I have to thank God for using my husband as instrument to touch the lives of the people positivity.
“I really want to thank and commend my husband for granting approval for all these interventions to also follow the ‘ARISE Agenda’ of this administration to do a little in our own way to touch the lives of the people without any discrimination,” the first lady said.
To assuage the bitting hardship, the first lady assured of sustainable development plans to provide succour to widows, the aged and the down – trodden throughout the eight years of her husband’s stint in political power.
Several free homes, business purse, free medical health care facilities for pregnant women, nursing mothers and the aged, according to her, will continue to define the vision and mission of GIFA, towards giving a new lease of life to all manners of people in needs.
On the worrisome population explosion that has accentuated the poverty index in the rural areas, Mrs Eno, said intervention in family planning is not part of her agenda: “Let the people procreate,” she stressed.
The concern for measures to prevent the surging rural population arose as the prevailing hardship took its toll on a family of eight including husband and wife at Mbiabong Ikot Udo village in Ini LGA, where the first lady, moved by the pathetic condition of the family, donated an oil palm and cassava processing factory to lift them out of the crushing poverty.
To ensure sustainability of the scheme targeted at lifting hundreds of the rural poor above the poverty line till 2031, when the administration will vacate office, the first lady charged the people to be in the vanguard of maintaining the prevailing peace as no development thrives under the atmosphere of chaos.
To effectively reach out to the very poor and needy households, the first lady has urged the concerned residents to be good ambassadors of GIFA, by locating and bringing out the heavily challenged and impacted men, women, orphans for socio – economic repositioning under the scheme.
