Ramadan Palliatives: Customs Service Partners Oko Opo Foundation to Support Widows, Donates 30 Bags of Rice
By: Olufemi Orunsola
As part of efforts geared towards partnering with a Non Government Organization, Oko Opo Foundation, to alleviate poverty among widows and other vulnerable groups in the society during the Holy Month of Ramadan, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has donated 30 bags of rice to the Foundation.
OPEN TELEVISION NAIJA (OTN) News reports that the strategic partnership support came by way of donation of 30 bags of 50 kg rice to the charity organisation at its corporate office, Laderin ,Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, to further empower the foundation execute its planned empowerment for widows and less privileged, especially during this Holy month of Ramadan, a season characterized by fasting and prayers by muslim faithfuls.
OTN News further reports that the bags of rice were delivered by the NCS, represented by Mr Olabode Akinola (Assistant Customs Comptroller), Mr Ismaheel Alarape (NCS Superintendent Officer) and Mr Kaffu Samuel (Deputy Superintendent Customs, Lagos, in furtherance of the Nigerian Customs Service mantra of supporting notable, not for profit organisation, in a bid to alleviate the suffering of the have not in the society, in line with the renewed hope agenda of the present administration.
The Customs leadership took advantage of the occasion to reaffirm its unflinching support to Oko Opo Widows Foundation.
OTN News recalls that the foundation known for its focus on empowerment of widows, had, on December 26, 2024, lifted over 150 widows from a dozen of Ogun communities with cash, food items and medications for those having ailments to make the last yuletide a memorable one for them.
The rice donation by the Nigeria Customs, OTN News gathered, is a fulfillment of the pledge by the agency last month during a peace parley between the promoter of Okó Opó Foundation, Ambassador (Dr) Babatunde Adeyemo, to support the foundation’s agenda for the widows in recognition of his magnanimity towards a trigger-happy NCS operative, who recently shot at his vehicle.
However, in a surprising turn of events that smacks of divinity and forgiveness, Adeyemo, a UN(POLAC) Ambassador, real estate entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer of Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, had during a peace engagement meeting with the senior Customs officials, whole heartedly forgiven the erring officer and declined compensation as earlier filed by his legal counsel, asking the erring officer “to go and sin no more,” even as he also pleaded with the NCS and its leadership to give the officer a “second chance” and “not relieve him of his job” over the alleged professional misconduct.
In his response to the gesture by the NCS, the Chief Promoter, Oko Opo widows Foundation, Dr. Babatunde Adeyemo said, "The donation from the Nigerian Customs service to the Foundation is another victory to the widows in Nigeria, the Anti Corruption Ambassador said, that the donated commodity will be shared to the last grains with an additional token for the widows, to celebrate the exit of the Holy Month of Ramadan."
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