Innocent Eneta, Publisher of Daily Global News and Southeast Citizen Journalist Foundation (SECIJOF) applauds the Fidelity Bank and the MD Food Initiative

Group applauds the Fidelity Bank Food Initiative and urges charity partners to focus on Nigerians who are at risk of starvation.

The Fidelity Food Bank Initiative (FFBI), which was formally inaugurated by the bank on Sunday in Lagos, has received praise from members of the Southeast Citizen Journalist Foundation (SECIJOF).

Comrade Chuka Ochie, the group’s coordinator and the editor-in-chief of The Season Newspaper (Online), told an audience in Lagos that the intervention was necessary because many families in Nigeria were suffering from hunger at the time it was taking place.

Ochie compared the country’s food shortage to a biblical occurrence in which people turned to eating one another because there was nothing else to eat in the land.

He said, “There’s no mincing words that the nations hunger index has degenerated to the time of the devastating famine in Samaria, when two women agreed to eat their only two remaining sons one after the other.”

“It is a shame that in spite of the versed land, population and abundant natural resources, Nigeria cannot feed itself.”

Ochie, charged the food bank partners saddled with the distribution of the food items to target the most vulnerable in their area of coverage and be fair, to ensure that the purpose of the initiative is achieved.

Innocent Eneta, a group member and Publisher of Daily Global News, praised the initiative while stating that Fidelity had provided relief to many households and made people happy.

He continued, “Fidelity haven given over the food goods; the ball is now in the court of the church and other business partners to execute the distribution with compassion, which is what Christ advocated, and he pointed out that there will be a moment for accountability for our earthly job.

The group praised Fidelity Bank and its MD/CEO Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, describing her as a mother indeed and stating that only a mother could comprehend what hunger meant to a child.

The Fidelity Food Bank Initiative, which is designed to feed the hunger vulnerable members of the society pan Nigeria through provision of food items every month, is the latest on the bank’s numerous corporate social responsibility initiatives (CSRI). The project comes under the bank’s Health & Social Welfare CSR pillar. Other pillars in the CSR strategy include Education, Environment and Youth Empowerment.

Speaking at launch event in Lagos, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe stated: ”according to the Global Hunger Index, an estimated 2.4 billion people, which represents more than 30 per cent of the world’s population, faced severe hunger in 2022.”

“In Nigeria, data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in 2022, stated that over 133 million Nigerians are multi-dimensionally poor and the major issue is hunger. We recognize that one of the ways we can continue to touch lives and give back to community we serve is by the introduction of The Fidelity Food Bank Initiative.”

On the food bank partnership, Onyeali said, “It is often said that if you want to go fast, go alone but if you want to go far, go with people.

This is the philosophy behind our partnering with Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church and other Food Bank Partners to assist in the distribution of the food items to people across their various locations.”

The food bank official launch which was well covered by the press, had in attendance executives and members of staff of the bank, clergy from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church led by the Parish Priest, Reverend Father Julius Olaitan, who officially received the food packs on behalf of the church for onward distribution. #Innocent Eneta, Publisher of Daily Global News and Southeast Citizen Journalist Foundation (SECIJOF) applauds the Fidelity Bank and the MD Food Initiative