Shaping and transforming remote communities through Humanitarian initiatives, Oberaifo Udoh – Director, Oberaifo Udoh Foundation and Business Management Consultant.
“HUMANITY FIRST” is my watchword, and this compels me to channel my resourcefulness into making society a better place. Several remote communities in Africa are occupied by people living below the poverty line. They lack clean water, good health care systems, education, finances, and more. More than one billion people have no access to safe drinking water. As a result, thousands of children die every day from diseases that could be prevented.
As a humanitarian, circumstances such as these concern me greatly, which is why I continuously seek to introduce sustainable developments to improve the socio-economic conditions of remote communities by reaching out to them through various initiatives.
When world leaders adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), they pledged to cut by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water, eradicate poverty, etc. It is time we hold them to that promise. My goal is to improve the standard of living of these people and communities and grant them access to better living.
Some of the initiatives I have had the opportunity to apply to better humanity are:
VINES BETTER HUMANITY FOUNDATION
The humanitarian arm of our Real Estate brand Vines Realty. Our mission in VINES REALTY is “To Build Human capital, develop our communities and support the government to ensure equitable housing for all, through our value-driven systems while making your dream home ownership a reality through our multi-channelled and professional service”. Our vision for building this is to develop Africa’s human capital by helping remote communities grow and thrive. The government is unable to reach every community that needs help, so, I aim to also support them through this initiative.
We understand that MSMEs are the bedrock for the growth and development of our economy. As an organisation, we have begun a program that would create jobs, make 1,000,000 young African millionaires and set up 100,000 impactful brands in the next few years across Agriculture, Digital Economy, Real Estate and Construction, Transportation, Creative Industry, Culture and Tourism, Manufacturing, etc. This will alleviate the scourge of poverty, create access to decent employment, reduce insecurity and irregular migration, boost youth aggregation, and give an overall boost to Africa’s growth and stability.
These young Africans under our wings are put through extensive training and incubation sessions that will prepare them to build powerful and impactful brands. Additionally, we have been able to obtain CAC registration documents for them, which will give them professional credibility as business owners.
Vine Better Humanity Foundation has proudly raised close to 100 millionaires this year via training programmes and affiliate marketing.
We have carried out community outreach programmes in communities we serve such as Okun Ise, Ise, Epe, Otolu, Oshoroko, Ode-Omi, and Okegun, by sharing food and gift items during festive periods. There is also a mapped-out plan to carry out infrastructural projects such as borehole construction, road network construction, building renovations, basic vocational training, and skill acquisition initiatives for members of these communities, to empower and make them self-sufficient and functional assets to the growth of the nation.
Esan Agro Initiative
This was a partnership project that involved the Edo Arise initiative and Esan Sons and Daughters(ESAD). It is an ongoing project for the next two years where we intend to reach out to 12,000 farmers. During the first phase of this project in April 2022, Farmers across five local government areas of Edo Central were given hybrid planting seedlings such as cassava, maize, plantain and banana suckers to improve their farming operations to boost their finances and community growth. They were also introduced to a new and more profitable strategy to run their farming business with utmost efficiencies, such as the adoption of modern farming technologies, and access to a means of transportation for bountiful farm yields. They will also be introduced to new markets, both local and international after harvest. While we targeted over 3,000 farmers, we were able to reach out to about 1,600. This was due to logistics issues and publicity. Notwithstanding, the average estimated total harvest for the farm seedlings shared at the grassroots will yield over N60 million to N100 million within the next 1 year. These rural farmers provide a larger percentage of the raw materials and food supplied to many communities and industries. Therefore, they deserve to have access to better support, finances and a good standard of living.
Project ‘Water for Esan’
In Africa, many rural communities are suffering from a lack of fresh water. The Esan community of Edo state is one such. This observation led to me partnering with several individuals who are passionate about helping these communities to construct boreholes in strategic spots for easy access to clean water for the people of Esan. This will also enable us to build public toilets and drainage systems for community dwellers soon. We also intend to partner with the government to change the unbearable and unacceptable water challenges facing the people. We are working on a plan to assist the government in the Water reticulation scheme to help set up water associations in remote communities across Edo Central. The tremendous impacts that have been made in remote communities through these initiatives have empowered people and upgraded their knowledge, values, and lifestyles. And these have been made possible through numerous support and partnerships.
In the coming years, I hope to be able to touch more parts of Nigeria, Africa and Global Humanity as a whole. HUMANITY FIRST.