Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has partnered with Modupe Ozolua through her Empower 54 to promote solutions to end malnutrition which currently kills 2.3 million children annually in Nigeria.
Empower 54 Project Inc. (Empower 54) is a non-profit organisation providing humanitarian assistance since 2003 through health, education, empowerment and IDP/refugee programmes to underprivileged Africans.
Quoting Nigeria’s Ministry of Health, Ozolua declared that “one-third, 33% of Nigerian children less than five years old suffer from chronic malnutrition” which translates into very disturbing statistics and many innocent lives lost due to lack of sensitisation on early management of malnutrition and accessibility to free treatment.
Ozolua further states: “After Empower 54 evacuated the severely malnourished IDP children from Bama to Maiduguri on June 13th and 15th 2016, we realised more has to be done to save children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) beyond evacuating them from high-risk zones for treatment. There are countless non-IDP children suffering from SAM all over Nigeria and other parts of Africa that also need help.”
The Ooni, Ozolua revealed has agreed to lend his voice and passion to the campaign to eradicate malnutrition in Africa.
Oba Ogunwusi was quoted as stating: “The menace of malnutrition is creeping deeper into the fabric of our society and we must be tenacious in our fight against this colossal beast by creating a better mechanism; adopt policies and strategies that are capable of combating its rapid expansion. Africa is the wealth of the world with huge human and natural resources and we must form a consensus that would scale up nutrition projects for the greater developments of future leaders that are being crippled daily by our collective negligence.”
He added@ “As the co-chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (NCTRN), we require holistic and systematic global blended approach in addressing the shade of malnutrition in Africa. I recognise and applaud months of intervention of Empower 54 in subjugating the spread of malnutrition in Nigeria and across Africa. Therefore, in an effort to forge greater participation, it is my sheer commitment and other global partners to advocate alongside the long-term collective aspirations of Empower 54 in championing malnutrition extinction roadmap in Africa.”
Empower 54 will be working closely with the Ooni of Ife Global Outreach Initiative on strategies for his role as international goodwill ambassador, joining Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Hollywood actress Kat Graham to work towards impacting lives of underprivileged Africans.
