The Caritas Nigeria on Friday in Abuja celebrated its 10th anniversary of establishment with a call on the government and all Nigerians to help themselves, especially the needy for the well being of the citizenry and society.
The Executive Secretary/CEO Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria (CCFN), Rev. Fr. Uchechukwu Obodoechina, made this call during a dinner and award to commemorate the anniversary celebration.
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He said that the current security challenges and the state of uncertainty in the country make it difficult for people to travel out of their homes, but that attendees defiled that odd and grace the occasion.
“The activities and the programmatic outcomes of the undertakings in these last ten years have been edifying phenomenal; they are giant historical milestones in the life of our numerous beneficiaries.
“We continue to thank the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) for the foresight to
establish Caritas Nigeria as one of its important agencies, charged with the mandate to over see
its humanitarian and development interventions in the Nigerian public space.
“Our experiences in Nigeria today, where abuse of life and its attendant rights are the order of the day, makes the task of fullness of life seriously challenging. Nigeria as we know is a nation abundantly blessed with enormous human and material resources. Yet a greater percentage of its teeming population live in abject poverty while a tiny percentage live in shameless opulence,” Obodoechina said.
He said that the organization in pursuit of its mandates, works assiduously hard to light the little candle at the end of the tunnel rather than blame the darkness, thus Caritas Nigeria through the support of many funders works in the areas of human health, good governance, anti-human trafficking, protection and safe guarding, and emergency and humanitarian services.
Also, a former Presidential candidate Prof. Pat Utomi, of Lagos Business School, commended Caritas Nigeria for its effort in improving the living standard of deprived communities.
He urged the foundation to continue in its skills acquisition and other programs, in the interest of the people and the nation.
On his part, the Secretary-General of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), Rev. Fr Zacharia Nyantiso Samjumi, who chaired the occasion, expressed joy on the successes of the foundation, 10 years after its establishment.
“Today, we are celebrating that sustained commitment to Christian love. Our gathering to celebrate a decade of the existence of the Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria is not so much to count its achievements but to note more of the Church’s commitment to what is in the heart of the Christian religion -charity, propelled by love of God and of one’s neighbor. We are celebrating that sustained commitment to Caritas- charity in love,” Samjumi said.
Since its formal registration, Caritas Nigeria has reached millions of direct beneficiaries from interventions on its priority areas, such as Emergency Response and Humanitarian Services (reaching internally displaced persons and refugees); Health & HIV/AIDS interventions among others.
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