Cleric and caregiver, Chandra Akende Akume, has challenged the federal government and wealthy Nigerians to urgently arrest the current socio-economic and political tension in the country through genuine empowerment programmes targeted at the poor.
The philanthropist gave this advice in an interview with Blueprint in Kabusa area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, over the weekend, shortly after the annual get-together programme of Destiny Christian Support Mission (DCSM), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) he founded to alleviate the suffering of the poor and delinquent.
Chandra Akume noted that, whereas government and individuals in the country have been conducting programmes aimed at addressing poverty and hunger, most of the activities have been beclouded and hijacked by politics, religious and ethnic bigotry and sundry issues, stressing that the only way to address the ongoing security challenges in the country is to engage in genuine empowerment of the poor and destitute in the society.
According to him, “I have decided to channel my wealth to help the poor. They need food; they need clothing and they need education and training to adequately position them to be able to help themselves. I can only do this now that I’m alive, because no one lives forever.”
Asked to comment on the vision of DCSM, Mr Akume said he has had the burden to empower the less-privileged through the training arm of his NGO, the Jesus Business School (JBS), which has been engaged in training women, youth and adults free of charge.
He said much of the problems confronting Nigerians, especially the poor, is lack of knowledge on how they could turn their challenges into wealth creation.
In his word: “Every human being is a potential star; however, our backgrounds and challenges most times intimidate us to think that we cannot amount to anything.
“That is why we train people at JBS to get acquainted with business ideas and how to start something like the mustard seed and become big in life. People should stop looking up to some other persons for survival. Let them have ‘I can do it’ mentality.”
