THE Maurice Akueme Foundation, MAF – a charitable, non-profitable organisation with a mission to bring succour to the poor and less-privileged, yesterday launched its head office in Enugu state to aid in their benevolence gestures to the people of the state.
The grand opening and dedication of the Foundation’s office at No 96 Ziks Avenue, had dignitaries and delegations from various social groups, coming to identify with the Foundation.
Its activities are staked in three major focal points of Alleviation, Palliation and Empowerment. It engages in socio-economic development, human empowerment and healthcare services. The foundation hopes to carry out its objectives through empowerment programmes with a vision to partner with members of the society to change lives and impact the society.
In his opening address, president and founder of the Foundation, Maurice Emeka Akueme, who welcomed the invitees stated that his vision for the organization was borne out of his desire “to heal the world and make it a better place for you and me and the entire human race.”
Going down memory lane, he narrated how the organization was conceived and initiated.
According to Akueme, “This dream which started in 2016 with our Lagos outreach where we visited orphanages, schools, old people’s homes, hospitals, started-off food banks on the streets, organised Christmas parties for people in need. Infact some kids actually saw Father Christmas/Santa Claus for the 1st time at one of our Christmas parties!
“At some point, the popular saying: ‘Charity begins at home’ started to haunt me. Why would I be doing stuffs in Lagos and not Enugu state my home? So the drive to start an outreach in Enugu started, at the same time Calabar and Benue outreaches came to light.
“To the Glory of God, The Maurice Akueme Foundation (MAF) is growing, we now have outreaches in Uganda, Zimbabwe and Ghana.”
Akueme added that “the need for a head office to coordinate the activities of this growing organisation is now inevitable and that was why we are here today.”
Responding shortly after the address, National Coordinator and Director of Programmes, MAF, Hon. Mike Madu, thanked the president for his wonderful initiative and kind gestures towards the less-privileged, assuring that his vision won’t be let down, saying that he would ensure the foundation continues to go from strength to strength.
“You have dropped the bone on the ground, it’s now the turn of the dog and the spirits. We want to assure you that we won’t disappoint you. We thank you immensely for all your efforts towards making this Foundation a success,” Madu said.
In a brief chat with Journalist101, Madu said they had come to dedicate the state office of MAF to the Glory of God “with friends to come and help us thank God for the progress and successes we’ve made.”
Highlighting the achievement and progress of the Foundation, Madu said: “The Foundation has been in existence for a long time now but started properly in Enugu not too long ago and within this short period of time, we’ve been able to organize inter-secondary school quiz competitions. We organised one at Holy Rosary College (HRC) here, we organized one at Ukanah which comprised of secondary schools from Udi local government.
“We undertake medical outreaches too and we’ve gone to medical hospital Ngwa where we took care of some patients who underwent major operations but were not able to pay and were detained by the hospital. So, we paid their fees ranging from ₦102,000 to ₦165,000.
“We’ve also gone to Udi General hospital where we settled the medical bills of everybody that came there that day. We also went to the wards and settled the bills of old patients ago were discharged but detained for lack of funds to settle their bills.
“We are in the process of building toilet facilities for some secondary schools in Udi which I visited in my capacity and I discovered that some of them doesn’t have even a unit of toilet. The MAF is on the process of giving them units of toilet and we intend to achieve this within the shortest possible time.
“We’ve also organized some football matches in the communities, local governments… We have gone to IDP camps in Kogi and Benue states and we’ve done some charity works in tertiary, old people’s homes, motherless people’s homes, and so on.”
Giving a word of hope and encouragement to the less-privileged, the MAF staff said “we’ve done so much without an office, so if we’ve done so much without an office, I know we can do more now that we have a secretariat. Therefore, I bring them words of hope, confidence and I want to assure that God is still on the throne.”
Also speaking, Comrade John Paul Ani, Director-General, Coal City Youths Development Initiative, said the group came to extend hands of partnership to the Foundation, having gone through her track records in the improvement of the social welfare of members of the society and the less-privileged.
“We came to extend our hands of partnership with the MAF. The reason for that is that it is part of our objectives and mission to identify with groups or persons who share similar objectives with us.
“Our watchword is good governance that is goal-oriented, that will better the lives of the haves and have-nots in Enugu state. Good governance that will initiate public-oriented bills and that will remember the rich and the poor, not just the rich alone because the youths we have in Enugu state are hardworking and industrious but looking at the rate of frustration and unemployment, arises the need for the state government to put up special projects that will harness the talents of these youths.
“So we came to identify with Maurice because we have heard what they have done in the past and we have seen their track records and said, ‘this is an organization to be partnered with.’ We also came to tell them that we exist and that we have the plight of the masses at heart,” he said.
The Coal City youth leader noted that MAF, has, in her bid to alleviate poverty in the state, given scholarship to different students. “It has as well embarked on renovation of dilapidated school buildings in the state,” he added.
However, Mr Ani encouraged the Foundation to embark on grassroots development, saying “we have some schools which it would seem that the state government have abandoned and people don’t remember anymore.”
He said the Foundation should do everything within its capacity to reach out to Community Primary School in Igogolo, Enugu Ezike and Community Primary School Amanfu, Ugbawka in Nkanu East LG.
According to him, his group has gone round the state to identify some of these schools which are currently “in a sorry state.”
High point of the event was a special prayer by Rev. Fr. Francis Agu and the dedication of the office to God.
