The Edo State Admin Officer, Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation, Mallam Abdul-Rasheed Jatto has said the Nigeria’s security and socio-economic challenges can be resolved effectively if the widows and orphans are well catered for.
Mall. Jatto made the assertion in Benin city during the distribution of assorted food items and cash to thirty widows.
The gesture, Muslim News learnt, was the first round of the Foundation’s annual Ramadan package for widows and orphans.
Food items distributed during the ceremony to the widows include rice, beans, garri, palm and vegetable oils as well as 5,000 naira cash.
The admin officer said taking care of the orphans and widows is the commandment of Allah as firmly established in the Quran, adding that, “helping them will not only bring succour to them but help tame Nigeria’s security and socio-economic challenge.
The Executive Director of the Foundation, Prince Sulaiman Olagunju, in his remarks noted that this year’s edition is the third in the series, adding that the idea is while most families are able to provide for their collective need, the widows and orphans in our midst who have lost their breadwinners, should not be left behind.
“This year, the foundation is targeting to reach 1,000 widows. He added that the money is raised via a minimal one thousand naira individual donation,” he said.
He urged the public officials to key into the project for the sake of humanity and their own souls, as no one can estimate the ills that could be prevented when we reduce the number of indigent persons in our midst.
In his remarks, the Operations Manager, Alhaji Maruf Ahmed added that the foundation apart from the food and cash donated to widows and orphans during Ramadan, the foundation also empowers them after Ramadan with entrepreneurship skills and tools for them to be able to fend for themselves.
