Rt. Hon. Okey Onyekanma donates Food Items to Constituents Amid COVID 19 Lockdown

By Justice Chukwunatu Nwafor

Consistent with empathic lifestyle, the former Deputy Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly and member representing Mbaitoli State Constituency, Rt. Hon. Okey Onyekanma, is set to distribute relief materials to his indigent constituents amid the biting hardship engendered by the lockdown.

Rt. Hon. Onyekanma, an ardent philanthropist, procured essential food items to replenish the kitchens of the vulnerable who are most affected by the impact of the lockdown. 

The items include several cartons of noodles , several bags of rice and bags of beans, cartons of power oil, cartons of Peak milk and loaves of bread. 

These items would be shared to 50 indigent persons in each of the 34 autonomous communities in Mbaitoli, the most populous local government area east of the Niger. 

While taking delivery of truckloads of the materials in his country home in Eziome Mbieri, Rt. Hon. Onyekanma, acknowledged that while the lockdown directive was a pragmatic measure to contain the spread of covid-19 in the state, it has engendered the knock-on effects of widespread lack among the poor. 

He noted that ‘’as the representative of my people, I am under obligation to identify with them in season and out of season and to share in everything they are going through. I am particularly concerned about the weak, the elderly and the indigents. They struggle in the best of times. They are much worse off right now. They should not have to starve during this period. That’s why I am sharing these food items with them.’’  

Following the order by the government that people should stay at home for two weeks to slow the spread of coronavirus in Imo state, businesses have shut down and all economic activities have ground to a halt.

The prices of foodstuff have gone through the roof. As a result, petty traders, menial labourers and low-income earners who work in the informal sector and depend on daily hustles to earn a living and feed their families have been staring hunger.

Community leaders from the various wards in Mbaitoli who were on hand to witness the arrival of the relief materials lauded the former Deputy Speaker for his magnanimity of heart. They observed that he was indeed inseparable from his people. They observed that his benevolent intervention would bring succor to the needy who are at risk of being taken out by hunger long before the virus comes close their neighborhood. 

The distribution of the food items to various autonomous communities will kick-off on Monday, the 6th April, 2020.

Justice Chukwunatu Nwafor is the S.A. Media & Publicity to Rt. Hon. Okechukwu Onyekanma