Obinna Uchendu Abakaliki
Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru has commended the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Princess Nkechinyere Iyioku, for embarking on humanitarian services in Ugwulangwu Autonomous Community, Ohaozara Local Government Area.
Governor Nwifuru was represented by the State Deputy Governor, Princess Onyemaechi Obila. The wife of the State Governor, Mrs. Mary-Maudline Nwifuru also graced the empowerment program organised by Iyioku’s support groups, called “Women Of Honour at Ohaozara”.
Governor Nwifuru described Iyioku as a kind hearted woman whose generosity has touched the lives of the people of Ugwulangwu adding that she has exhibited exceptional leadership qualities and commitment to the welfare of the people. He encouraged the community to reciprocate her kindness by supporting his administration.
Flagging-off the empowerment program at her Ugwulangwu country home, Governor Nwifuru also presented Awards of Excellence to deserving individuals and empowerment materials to the members of Women of Honour, Praying Widows, and other selected individuals.
In a remark, the wife of the governor congratulated the Women of Honor and Praying Widow groups on their respective 10th and 15th anniversaries.
She commended Iyioku, the founder of the foundation, for her efforts in empowering women.
In her address, Princess Iyioku maintained that the journey of Women of Honour as an Organization up to this stage has not been an easy one “but God on our side we have been able to survive numerous challenges facing the Organization.
“The Organization membership is cut across the three Political Wards of Ugwulangwu, namely: Uhuotaru, Ugbogologo and Enenezeraku. Our membership has grown to 1054 women and still counting.
“The inspiration to form this group came after many years of giving it a thorough consideration to use the platform to assist the women to have a relief of life. When I look around my community, my heart bleeds seeing women with great potentials but lack opportunities to thrive.
“Women of Honour is a non-political Organization which was founded by me in 2014 when I was the Ohaozara East Development Centre Coordinator. My sole aim is the emancipation of the members from ignorance, poverty and diseases.
“When a woman is empowered the nation is empowered and the society will live happily because whatever a woman gets goes directly into the family.
“This Organization has been able to empower a good number of her members in various areas of commerce, agriculture, vocations and in politics as some of them have through this Organization got the opportunity to hold some political positions.
“We give grants to support the members annually after training to ensure sustainability of their businesses. We organize free medical outreach for members to ensure that the health of the members are prioritized. Periodic Christian prayers are also organized to seek the face of God to keep blessing our Organization and our leaders.
The Organization engages in Community service delivery as it forms part of her routine activities to carry out sanitation in some designated locations of Nkwo Ugwulangwu market square, the Development Centre etc. Through this Organization, we have had series of orientations on how to respect and honour our husbands, become good ambassadors of our respective families and supportive to our husbands.
“This women group remains the most formidable in Ugwulangwu today with a population of 1054 membership.
She said that the empowerment program is aimed at empowering the women with agricultural equipment, tricycles, motorcycles, wrappers, bags of rice etc, and present Awards of Honour to some of our illustrious brothers who have been supporting our programmes.
Every woman in Ugwulangwu desires to belong to this Organization but we have arranged the membership to capture every village in the entire Ugwulangwu with the intention to increase the membership to accommodate others who are desirous to be one of us.
