AMPEF display charity, blame federal govt. over neglect of the less privileged in the society
…..Urge other business owners to make staff welfare a priority.
By Onome Naomi
Following the spate of hardship plaguing Nigerians, Comrade Saviour Iche, the president of Ambassadors of Peace and Enlightenment Foundation ‘AMPEF,’ is saying the vulnerable citizens have imbibed the 0-0-1, 0-1-0, or 1-0-0 ways of keeping alive. Many families in Nigeria do not have food; they also cannot pay rent due to a lack of jobs and low salaries.
Comrade Iche, who’s also a business owner, recently and periodically provides sustainability for his staff and the less privileged in the form of food items and increased salaries to cushion starvation and lays blame on the federal government and other private business owners over neglect of the vulnerable in the society.
He said many children are out of school due to poverty on the part of the parents, who would prefer to keep their wards at home rather than burden school owners with their surmounting debts from school fees owed as a result of lack of jobs. The situation of out-of-school children still bothers them on how to feed them while at home.
Iche stated that
“On a daily basis, the food items and essential commodities have steadily increased in price, and nobody knows when the inflation will stop.”
“Our senators and House of Representative and Assembly members are busy representing themselves and their families and not the people. The government has failed woefully in its primary assignment to the citizens of the nation; they have neglected the security and welfare of the people but would rather makes plans to remain in power in the next tenure to further enrich themselves.”
However, as a result of the aforementioned lapses the federal and state government has created, Comrade Iche noted that he’s made it a point of duty to serve and assist the less privileged in representation of AMPEF’s magnanimity by periodically giving food relief to vulnerable persons. He noted that as a business owner, salaries paid to his staff seem insufficient considering the hike in price of food commodities in the market and family needs; hence, the need to increase salaries steadily and provide welfare packages, as he’s done constantly.
Iche calls on Nigerians who have the means to support the less privileged to trust NGOs, community leaders, and stakeholders in the grassroots for an even distribution of relief packages. He said the act of charity he displays is majorly not out of abundance but a commitment to serve the people in his business place and the community, with hopes that other privileged Nigerians will see his effort and contribute to the same course, particularly to assist those at the grassroots, for they are the sufferers of the economic situation.
He further stated,
“As a human rights body and a private business owner, we have empathy for the less privileged; what will happen if we have enough to share? Probably, there are some privileged persons looking for genuine people to channel their resources for charity purposes but do not know whom to trust.”
“We are open to receiving donations, whether they are food items or other essentials. AMPEF is open to receiving generous donations with the assurance that those at the grassroots level will be widely reached, for they are the real sufferers of the harsh economy. We, as chaperones of the grassroots people, know the really poor residents.”
In addition, Iche urges other business owners to regularly or periodically cater to the welfare of their staffs; he says that recently and previously, he increased staff salaries by 20% to meet the situation of the economy. Moreover, the dire situation of the economy has reached the point where the privileged will have to support the less privileged to create a balance for survival.
