A 22-year-old lady and a mother of four, Grace Udeme Esenowo is reported to be feeding her children with chicken feeds amid the high cost of food items in Akwa Ibom State.
Grace, who hails from Ikot Abia in Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, works on a farm run by John Udoma and feeds her four children with chicken and fish feeds.
Queen Praise, Udoma’s daughter made this known on her Instagram page which has attracted the attention of many public-spirited individuals and she has raised over one million naira for the lady and her family.
Queen Praise’s post has also attracted the attention of Akwa Ibom First lady, Patience Umo Eno, who has made a donation of N500,000 to the lady to provide accommodation and feeding to the lady and her family.
Uduak Ekong, the press secretary to the governor’s wife who confirmed this in a statement made available to Businessday in Uyo, the State Capital, said Patience Umo Eno had also directed that her “Non Governmental Organisation (NGO,) the Golden Initiative For All, GIFA and her Aides to work with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Female Stakeholders in Eket, to fashion out a holistic support for the young mother and her children.”
The statement read in part, “The attention of the Wife of the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Patience Umo Eno, has been drawn to a trending story on the Instagram handle of one QueenPraise John Uzoma ( popularly known as NriNdioma ), on a 22 year old girl, Grace Udeme Esenowo from Ikot Abia, Okon Eket, who works on her father, Venerable John Uzoma’s farm in Eket Local Government Area and feeds her four children with chicken and fish feeds.
“While thanking QueenPraise for drawing attention to this worrisome situation and raising over a million naira overnight from empathetic and generous Individuals, Organizations and others, the First Lady has directed her NGO, the Golden Initiative For All, GIFA and her Aides to work with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Female Stakeholders in Eket, to fashion out a holistic support for the young mother and her children.
“To start with, the Governor’s wife has made an initial personal donation of Five Hundred Thousand naira only in support of plans to provide immediate accommodation, food supplies and other basic necessities for the young family of 5.
“In the coming days, updates would be made available for the benefit of individuals and organizations willing to be involved in plans to provide sustainable help for Grace and her children.”
BusinessDay reports that there has been more than 100% increase in food prices in Akwa Ibom State with staples such as garri, beans, rice and yam getting out of the reach of many residents
This has prompted the State Government t declare the first and third Fridays of every month as workfree days for civil servants and public sector workers to return to farm as part of efforts to address the chronic food shortages and the alarming high cost of commodities
The State Government is also distributing food vouchers to vulnerable people in the state through its palliative programme whose names should in the state’s social register.
It is not however clear how effective the scheme has been in addressing hunger and food scarcity in the State, even as Akwa Ibom is reported to have received a total of N127.77 billion from the 13 derivation revenue between June 2023 and May 2024.
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