By Olanrewaju Adesanya
Government have been urged to vote more funds into Ministries and agencies taking care of the needy and widows in the society,so as to reduce the wide gap of inequality.
Hon.Rasheed Makinde,the Lagos state House of Assembly member representing Ifako Ijaiye II constituency,gave this charge in his remark at the 2019 edition of Annual Feed the widow event,organized by the Widows Care and Charity Organisation (WICCO).
Makinde notes that widows are quite vulnerable and therefore needs all the support they can garner.
“My major counsel for them is to keep their chastity,believing that whatever trauma they are going through is temporal,they should be steadfast in whatever they are doing.
“Overtime it will pay off,they will ripe the fruit of their labour through their wards,they should take proper care of their children in order to have a secured future,it could be better imagined when the burden of two people rest on one person.
He however, called for better funding for government agencies catering for the welfare of the needy.
“I think we have a ministry saddled with the responsibility of attending to the needs of the needy,government should charge more votes into the ministry or agency that is taking care of the needles so that we can have less downtrodden people in our society.
Mrs.Itunu Babarinde, an Assistant Director with the NGO unit,who held forte for the Ministry of Women affairs and poverty alleviation,Commissioner at the event states the passion of government as it regards welfare of the needy.
“Government has a lot in stock for this kind of NGO once they are registered with the ministry,because what we are trying to do right now is to create a hub, a digital base for all the women focused NGO’s in Lagos State.
“So that we will be able to encourage them and coordinate their activities in line with the T.H.E.M.E.S agenda of this present administration.”
The WICCO initiator, Mr. Oni Olayinka James who appreciated the support of the Rotaract Club of Omole Golden for having collaborated with them,notes that thanks to the support, WICCO’s reach has been widened.
“We still need more finance from the government, philanthropists,friends and family to keep this vision going,if we are able to access that,we can go places taking care of the widows.
“The joy is that we are making progress,initially five years back,we started with about 15-20 widows but today,we are giving food and aids to close to 100 widows,at least people have been rallying round us and in the next two to three years, I pray we will shake Lagos state for good.” Oni said.