Caritas Making life Meaningful for Nigerians Living in Rural Area

The first time I heard of Caritas Nigeria was during a meeting at a farmers group I belonged to in Igbe, a town that falls in Ijede and Igbogbo LCDA of Lagos state, Caritas Nigeria incorporated as Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria (CCFN), was established in 2010 as a development agency of the Catholic Church.

First I am surprised to see that it was formed by the all-powerful Catholic Church as a Non-governmental agency to see to the well-being of all.

At first, I heard they are giving out a lot to farmers through one of their projects, Building Sustainable Livelihoods for Vibrant Communities (B-SLiC) a project that is supported by the Conrad Hilton Foundation in both Lagos and Ekiti States. In an interview with one of their representatives Mr Tosin Ayodeji, the Agric Associates in Ikorodu LGA Lagos at one of their distribution in Igbe Oloja he told me of how they have given out close to 3000 Noiler Chickens to 300 households within Ijede and Ikorodu West LCDA just last month.

He talked about selected beneficiaries who were trained on Para-vets to render first aid services to the beneficiaries of the livestock in their communities whenever they develop symptoms of the disease.
A witness Mr wale Ogunsanwo was so happy to testify to the good things being done by Caritas Nigeria in his family and the entire community at large.

They have several communities that they are intervening in Ikorodu LGA such as Igbe Oloja, Igbe Oguro, Igbe Kapo, Abule Eko, Igbopa, Oke-eletu, Oko Ope, Logunlogun, Igbo Olomu and Elepete in Lagos all in Lagos State.
This B-SLiC project is in its second year and it is targeting over 6400 vulnerable farming households and those willing to go into farming in both Lagos and Ekiti States.

Caritas Nigeria incorporated as Catholic Caritas Foundation (CCFN), was established in 2010 as a development agency of the Catholic Church that focuses on Integral Human Development, her interventions are delivered on six key thematic areas namely: Health, Agriculture and Livelihoods, Good governance, Emergency/Humanitarian Response, Anti-human Trafficking; and Institutional Capacity-strengthening.

Over the last 10 years, Caritas Nigeria has implemented major donor-funded programs in different parts of the country.
Caritas Nigeria is being funded by CONRAD N. HILTON FOUNDATION for this B-SLiC project which is an agriculture and Livelihoods project. This project is in its second year in both Lagos and Ekiti states

In Lagos State, the intervention is taking place in Ikorodu LGA, Badagry LGA, and Gbonyin and Ise/Orun LGA in Ekiti State.

Mr Tosin Ayodeji goes further to let me know that Caritas Nigeria, B-SLiC Project has distributed 5kg of maize, 4kg of groundnut, and knapsack sprayers to about 2000 beneficiaries in Ijede LCDA and Ikorodu West LCDA, and 6,400 across the states of intervention.
He also said before the distribution the communities were trained on how to produce organic liquid fertiliser and organic liquid insecticide with available materials around their environments.

Also, in the homestead garden component, we are targeting 2000 women beneficiaries in the four LGA in the two states, they have distributed sachets of pepper seeds, Okra seeds, and Ugu seeds to women in these various communities in Ikorodu LGA to encourage women to plant around their compound.

So far they have distributed 10 Noiler chickens with feed, drinkers, and feeders to beneficiaries. Also, Caritas Nigeria empowered the Para vets with a first aid box that contains several drugs, antiseptics, cotton wool, scissors and more that would be able to deal with most disease symptoms that usually happened to birds were in the package they received.

Under the Livelihoods component, we are currently training women and youths in various skills such as barbing, tailoring, plumbing, mechanics, Aluminium work, hairdressing, Catering, etc in the two states..

We all wish the initiative could be extended to all places in Nigeria so the hunger rampaging the Nation could be reduced to the minimal level. Just some days ago, igbenews was informed by the secretary of the Agbekoya farmers Association Igbogbo Baiyeku LCDA Mr Debo Ogunlana Mrs Tawakalitu Yisa that they received  many sachets of  pepper seeds to be planted on a 10 acres land they just rented in igbe Oloja, ijede from Caritas Nigeria.

There are so many Farmer’s cooperatives waiting to partake in the Caritas initiative.