ABEOKUTA– The Chief Executive Officer of Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, Amb. Babatunde Adeyemo has launched the Oko Opo Foundation, a Non-governmental Organization set up to take care of widows in the society.
Speaking on the event, Adeyemo
said the passion to make things happen positively in the country and change the narratives informed the reason for the establishment of the foundation.
He also revealed that he has expended almost N150million planning the project since the idea was conceived about 10 years ago, adding that he has donated a two acres of land towards providing housing in the future to the most vulnerable widows in the state.
“The motivation is simply the passion to make things happen in this country and to also change the narratives. I came from a very humble beginning, a very humble background where we suffered a lot.
“My father was a philanthropist, he was a senior civil servant, he spent almost 27 years in service but my Dad didn’t build a house of his own. He was busy using all his money to empower people.
“The only way you can secure your future is to invest in institution, invest in people. Those are the things that will stand the test of time. And here I am today, I am not a multi billionaire but I’m contented with what I have and I see reason for me to touch the heart of people positively.
“We still have people that have billions but could not do what we are doing. It is in the blood. It is hereditary. For example, most of my staff, apart from given them their salary, I give them daily stipends because I can’t afford to work with somebody that is hungry.
“So, the same integrity we have brought into real estate. We are one of the best in Ogun State right now. We are the Omoluabi in the real estate business. We have been into this business for almost 14 years without a single court case and I have four lawyers under my retainership. We have 100% positive reviews and we are still pushing on on this.
“So, I want to bring those integrity and goodwill to help the widows and I’m doing this to live by example. I have committed over N150million of hard earned funds into this project.
“We are calling on every wealthy Nigerians, excluding the politicians, to add value to what we are doing because I don’t want what we are doing to be an instrument of politicking. I’m not interested in politics. I want to try as much as possible to make a mark with this Foundation and I’m ready to donate major part of my resources towards alleviating the suffering of the widows.
Speaking also at the event, a veteran broadcast journalist, Chief Eddy Aina urged the widows to pay more attention to their age, diet and health to prolong their lifespan, advising that with some of them having reached the age of 40 years and above, they should henceforth eat more of vegetables.
According to him, with old age setting in and the body system also losing its vigour and vitality in respect to food metabolism, high sugary food could spike blood glucose level, compound an existing diabetic condition or trigger one in someone.
Aina who noted that there is an estimated 15million widows in Nigeria, lamented the inhuman conditions some of them were being subjected to in parts of the country, especially in the South – East, appealing to the governments and wealthy Nigerians to emulate Oko Opo Foundation
In the same.vein, Lekan Jaji, an author and publisher, also spoke on “Acceptability” – a way of empowering the widows to accept the reality that their departed loved husbands had gone and would not physically return anymore.
He noted that getting into this phase of acceptability would the widow to move on with life and forge a new frontier instead of dwelling on illusion that leads to frustration and incapacitation of the will to function productively.
An octogenarian widow, and the mother of the chief promoter of Oko Opo Foundation, Iya Adinni of Ginti Community Central Mosque Ikorodu, Alhaja Sidikat Adeyemo, also shared her useful experience to encourage her colleagues, advising them to be closer to God and fight off lack, boredom and despair by engaging in productive ventures and being people – oriented.
The inaugural event had 100 widows being empowered with Cash, food stuff and other toiletries to cushion the effect of hardship prevalent in the country.
