At this time that many Nigerians are passing through hard times due to harsh economic condition, a former member of the Federal House of Representatives, who represented Ado-Odo/Ota Federal Constituency between 1999 and 2003, Alhaji Babawale Remi has once again shown it is not only when one is in government that he should impact on the society. This wonderful man has in the interest of less privileged people partnered with other well-meaning global personalities to care for the less-privileged children in the society.
The organisation; Babs & Friends Care Foundation (BFCF) is partnering to build a world where all children are given a chance to make the most of their existence.
Their mission is to alleviate the citizens from poverty on sustainable level towards nation building, while their vision is to provide vocational education/funding for citizens towards getting minimum of 2.5m people out of poverty in the next 5years.
“Across the globe, we are united in our dedication to human rights. The Babs & Friends Care Foundation (BFCF) is dully registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) of Nigeria on the 21st day of August 2021.
“BFCF is primarily in operation for caring for the less privilege and improving their living standard. Interestingly the Board of Trustees is made up of four (4) God-fearing men and woman with high value and strong characters to provide the best for humanity and we will make the world better in our time,” Alhaji Babawale said.
The project is the first of its kind in Nigeria by any serving or former political office holder.
The former reps member however, promised in an interview that the organisation would live up to its expectation of wiping the tears of the underprivileged, especially children, saying that time had to come to pay attention to the nation’s future leaders, and called on members of the public and well-meaning Nigerians to donate to the organisation for the sake of the indigent children.
“We should not allow our children to suffer. As a father, I feel the pains of under-privileged children and I will work with my colleagues to make life better for them,” he said.
The organisation, he said can be reached on babsandfriendscare.org
On the practical approach to the project, he said; “We can’t eradicate poverty without people’s active participation. There is no denying of the fact that more supportive hands can share the burden easily, so everyone must join hands to address the plight of underprivileged children.
“How can we help underprivileged children: Instead of taking a random approach we must follow a practical and scientific approach to address this issue. Before drafting any strategy, we need to do a rigorous brain storming session and try to identify the root cause(s) of poverty. Drawing a concrete strategy is a tough job, but nothing is impossible in this world. We need to tackle this problem in a very practical manner. First we need to analyze causes, study the behavioral pattern of the target audiences then we need to draw a concrete strategy based on our analysis.”
He added that a child born to poor parent means total exposure to malnutrition, diseases, inferior living conditions, inadequate sanitation and many other hardships.
“Although, the child himself is not responsible for poverty, hardships are bound to befall him. But who actually is responsible for poverty in our nation? The main reasons for poverty in our country are: Rapidly rising population; Low productivity in agriculture; Underutilized resources; Low rate of economic development; Price rise; Unemployment; Shortage of capital and Able Entrepreneurship; Social Factors and Political factors.
“Not just the government, but all the people of Nigeria need to focus on the eradication of poverty, not only by pooling in monetarily, but a total change of attitude is required. Only then can we triumph over this massive enemy.
“We need to identify the causes of poverty and try to eliminate them. The causes being – Rapidly rising population; Low productivity in agriculture; Underutilized resources; Low rate of economic development; Price rise; Unemployment; Shortage of capital and Able Entrepreneurship; Social Factors and Political factors.
He revealed that on partnering with individual and cooperate bodies, structures will be made for consistent attentions to the needs of individuals whom they deem fit.
“We will put out many social welfare schemes and ensure to publicize these information to the target audience so that poor people can raise their children in a better way and less priviledged individuals can also benefit from our programs.
“Education is basic and fundamental. Financial assistance can give a boost to the enthusiasm of an underprivileged child. Besides this, there are other fundamental items that we will put in place too.
“We will to the best of our abilities, impact, strengthen and ensure steady growth in these individuals.
“One of our core values is to render help, we will do our best to render assistance to the appropriate bodies and individuals,” he said.
Interestingly, Hon Babawale Rasheed Remi is the founder/Chairman (BOT) of this unique International Foundation with Dr.Martins Ota, a director with GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceutical company base in Belgium as the Vice chairman; Olori Arike Olukemi Ekundayo, Secretary; Dr. Suresh K.Goswami l, Publicity Secretary and Shk FYE Ebrima as Financial Secretary.