Enene Akonjom and one of the beneficiaries of her empowerment program in Ebonyi State, Sunday Anyigor
The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Enene Akonjom Foundation, EAF, Ms Enene Akonjom, has extended her nationwide empowerment programs which brings succour to those in social and economic obscurity to selected youths in the Ikwo LGA of Ebonyi State Nigeria.
She has also built and donated a classroom block to the Independent Layout Primary School, Ezzangbo, in Ndufu-Alike Ikwo Community to alleviate the sufferings of the pupils of the school.
Enene said the only way crimes and other vices in the society can be reduced to the barest minimum is to get the youths meaningfully engaged in various skills and trades.
She further explained that for over a decade now, she has been assisting those in dire economic straits by engaging them in skill acquisition geared towards making the beneficiaries of such gestures eke out a living on their own.
At the Echara Ikwo community where Mr. Sunday Anyigor, a 37-year old man was empowered, Enene called on the general public to stop at nothing in patronising made-in-Nigeria goods which, according to her, will take the nation out of her present economic woes.
Commending the donor for the gesture, Mr Sunday Anyigor said the only problem with his business is the country’s inability to stabilise electricity supply and the hefty levies imposed on small and medium enterprises operators by the government through the Board of Internal Revenue.
He said this has made it difficult for them to meet basic needs, adding that he has been in this trade for nearly two decades but has never been empowered.
The next phase of the exercise, according to Enene, will be in April this year.
The highpoint of the event was the presentation of cheques to assist the beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, opinion and community leaders of Ndufu Alike Ikwo Community, in Ikwo LGA of Ebonyi State, recently honoured Ms Enene Akonjom and her humanitarian foundation, Enene Akonjom Foundation, EAF, for coming to the aid of the Independent Layout Primary School, Ezzangbo, in Ndufu-Alike Ikwo Community by building and donating a single block classroom to the pupils of the school.
The community led by Chief Samuel Anyigor said such gesture anchored on empathy and sympathy should not be left unrewarded, hence the honour bestowed on her by the community.
Chief Anyigor said it’s only posterity that can reward such person whose sympathy for the economically deprived members of the society cuts across creed, ethnic and socio-political backgrounds, recalling how someone from far away Cross River State could embark on a rescue mission to a community where she neither resides, nor is related by marriage, but simply because she is out on a salvage mission.
Earlier in her address at the event, the headmistress, Mrs. Winifred Ukpai said prior to Enene’s intervention, the pupils have been sacked by cruel wind and thunderstorm thereby learning and carrying out academic exercise under shrubs and trees.
Mrs. Ukpai further stated that learning under shrubs poses a grave danger to pupils.
The headmistress further explained that series of complaints have been written to the government to provide chairs and tables to replace the dilapidated ones now in use.
It was also gathered that the President of the Foundation, Enene Akonjom later gave out seats and uniforms, books, toys and comic materials to ease off stress to the pupils.
Ukpai described the donor as an ‘institution’ and as a colossus akin to the tornado.
Reacting, Enene said more donations are in the offing, saying her humanitarian aids program cuts across all barriers, whether ethnic, religious etc.
She appreciated the honour bestowed on her by the community, saying she has never been given such honour before.
She dedicated the honour to the Almighty God who gave her the kind hearted spirit for almost two decades of championing a cause that has improved the lives of the downtrodden people in some communities across the country.