How Whoba Ogo Foundation has been lifting Umuihi community in Imo State, Nigeria

Whoba Ogo Foundation has been putting smiles on the faces of people in the Umuihi community with interventions in different areas of the lives of residents of the area.

The Foundation has, majorly, intervened in the education sector, in the area of provision of portable water, in the health sector and through an empowerment scheme.

Whoba Ogo Foundation, for instance, single-handedly renovated the hitherto dilapidated Nwaeruru Mbakwe Comprehensive School Umuihi to the extent that the school is now wearing a new look with upgraded infrastructure that can compare favorably with those of some tertiary institutions.

All the buildings in the school, which is named after the late wife of a former Governor of the old Imo State, the revered late Chief Sam Onunaka Mbakwe, have been restructured, renovated and roofed with long span sheets, splashed with glowing colours.

The institution is now solar-powered, fenced round with global standard modern perimeter barricade fencing complete with a newly installed gate and security guards also employed by the Foundation which has equally established a modern laboratory in the school and provided mowers for the trimming of the lawns.

The same Whoba Ogo Foundation has employed about fourteen graduate teachers for the school who are on its payroll and has restored discipline which had before now taken flight from the school. Today, courtesy of the Foundation, discipline is now the song in this citadel of learning.

To add spice to the goodies it is providing for the school, the Foundation has, since the past five years, been paying the registration fees for the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) for students of the institution. And these are just a few of the major interventions of the Foundation in the education sector of the community.

The Whoba Ogo Foundation has in the area of provision of portable water for the community, renovated and brought to life the Afor Umuihi Water Scheme and complemented the effort by the purchase and donation of a brand new electricity generating set to power the now functional Millennium Water Project.

The Foundation also extended its philanthropy to the Health Sector with all sick elderly persons in Ihitte/Uboma now entitled to receive free medical treatment on its ticket. To benefit from this scheme, the patient has to meet with a Certified and Registered Nurse in the community, Mrs. Gabriele Anyanwu, for preliminary screening and observation, who would in turn issue the patient a referral to Emmanuel Missionary Hospital Etiti and other accredited hospitals in Ihitte/Uboma for treatment. The bills for such treatments are picked up by the Whoba Ogo Foundation.

The philanthropic interventions of the Foundation are evident in several other sectors, but the latest was the empowerment program it organized for cobblers on Saturday, April 10, 2021 for the Umuokoro, Umuezeokwa, Umuelem, Umuowushi, Umuekele-Umuode and Diaba-Na-Chi Ala communities of Umuihi and Ihinna.

The entire St. Mary’s field, Orie Umuihi was agog, in a festive mood, reminiscent of any day of first class activity in Igboland.

All who attended the program were full of praise for the Foundation which had, prior to that day instituted a Verification Panel, headed by renowned Lagos-based legal practitioner, Barrister Theo Nwaigbo, with Sir Chima Apiaka and Mr. Ezeoha Whoba as members, to interview and select 10 out of the many that came forward for the program.

At the end of the exercise, ten successful candidates emerged from all the villages of Umuihi and Ihinna and the climax of the event was when the ten beneficiaries were handed the empowerment items in the presence of Traditional Rulers of Ihitte/Uboma led by HRH Eze JC Uwalaka, his counterpart from Ihinna, HRH Eze Lawrence Ihekweme and other Ezes from Amainyi, Abueke and Nkwumeato.

Each of the beneficiaries got a brand new shoe making machine, a trimming machine, complete shoe making accessories and work tools, including cobbler hammer, cobbler pinchers, cobbler plyer and shoe manufacturing nubs.

Also each beneficiary got a sealed brand new electricity generating set, raw materials to last each person for several months and a rented shop (with the rent fully paid) at Isinweke.

It was, indeed, a day of great joy for all the beneficiaries, their family members and, indeed, the entire community, including the Ndi-Ichies, Chiefs and other dignitaries who witnessed the event. The jubilation galore was garnished with a large dose of fervent prayers for the Foundation and the persons behind the mask.

According to Barrister Theo Nwaigbo, Consultant to the Foundation, much more is still to come from the Whoba Ogo Foundation for the community.