Amb Mrs Angonimi David-Imeh is the
Executive Director of
Hope Raisers Global Foundation. In an interview with journalists during the festive seasons urges leaders and government to urgently design means to put an end to the menace of stampede sabotaging efforts of good spirited individuals in Nigeria. Excerpts:
Tell us about this Project tagged: Christmas With Hope.
Project Christmas With Hope is an annual project born by Hope Raisers Global Foundation to meet the needs of Nigerian citizens who finds it difficult to provide basic necessities for their family like food to eat during the festive season.
The initiative is centered on SDG 2 Zero Hunger and has been running for the past 3 years in a roll but in the FCT alone until last year 2024 when the Nigerian economy was on the brink of collapse thereby amplifying the hardship on the people we decided to go BIGGER on reaching the 36 States and the FCT.
Fortunately, we ended up with reaching 22 states and the FCT, this wasn’t a walk in the park in any ways as we partnered with other non-profit organisations and some private businesses for it’s execution.
Why not all the 36 States?
The structure for outreach in 36 State plus the FCT is in place, we couldn’t reach the 36 States because we had a short fall in funding, there wasn’t adequate funds to drive the project. We look forward to more funds for a wider reach.
Which states benefited?
FCT, Abia, Lagos, Edo, Benue, Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Oyo, Imo, Katsina, Taraba, Plateau, Enugu, Delta, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ogun, Niger, Nasarawa, and Ondo state
What are your expectations for the new year?
One of the ways to drive possible shift in the economy on our part as drivers of growth of the economy is to engage in Agriculture. Nigeria during the colonial and post colonial era survived on Agriculture as we had high returns, no hunger, no unemployment and all the grey areas which is being experienced now wasn’t the cry of the people.
Looking at our history and the upward trend in her economy which was centered on Agriculture we have decided to throw our weight on empowering our women and youths around the 36 States on the most feasible ways of farming, thanks to technology which have shown us ways to plant our crops without facing the challenges of insecurity on our farm lands.
We are looking at raising 1m farmers in the next year owing to availability of funds as this is a huge task.
We must embrace subsistence agriculture where our people can produce what they eat, Nigeria is too blessed to be amongst the highest ranking nation in the world whose Hunger Index is on the high globally, Nigeria ranked 110 out of 126 in the Global Hunger Index last statistics.
We must rise up and embrace this challenge by empowering the numbers, we shouldn’t be talking about empowering 200 people, one thousand people, we should be talking about the numbers in millions taking a guide from the size of our population so that our impact can be seen and felt.
When we have more numbers in their millions who can embrace Agriculture giving it a minimum of two years we would be able to bounce back as a country and that will also have a positive impact on the economy.
What’s your take on the recent stampedes in FCT and Ibadan
We have many ways to employ to stop the menace of stampede, technology has made life easier and we must embrace her, deploy and become more responsible as a people. We do not want more deaths because people need what to eat, it’s mind bugging. We have the Convexity Humanitarian Aids Transfer Solution which simplifies humanitarian aid transfers, on a seamless process, evenly distributed aid and it completely brings the menace of stampede or mob attacks as history. We have to leverage on technology, partnership and possible engagement of more hands if we want this to be a thing of the past. Do not forget that we also had stampede in states in 2024 owning to rice distribution. This has to stop and immediately. May the souls of the departed rest in peace and may their families be comforted.
What do you think Federal Government should do to avert such in the future?
The government should take responsibility of what has happened and put a complete stop to it. We cannot continue to loose manpower, these are the strength of the nation.
Every single Nigerian matter and must be carried that way.
Thank you.
