True happiness must arise from well-regulated affection, and an affection includes a duty – Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97)

Apparently it is this duty to care for mankind, to show concern for the less privileged and improve the lot of his community that has been the main drive and passion of Senator Sir Ikechukwu Godson Abana to establish the Senator I.G. Abana Foundation.

Established barely two and a half   years ago, the Foundation has made significant impact in Enugwu Ukwu, Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State and environs.

Members of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation include the Senator himself who represented Anambra Central Senatorial District in the Senate between 2003 and 2005.

He serves as Chairman of the Board which included Sir N. I.k. Abana, former Managing Director of Anambra Broadcasting Service, ABS; Rev. Gloria Uchefuna, a U.S based evangelist and this writer Mr. Sam Ekpe.

Since the take-off of the Foundation in April 2010 it has vigorously embarked on programmes that have helped to alleviate the suffering of the less-privileged. Its most popular programme is the free medical service that is held in the last week of December every year.

The maiden programme, held on December 28 and 29, 2011 involved the treatment of 1,854 persons. About 421 persons received eye glasses, while over 250 people were examined in the laboratory. The services of 18 medical doctors, four medical laboratory scientists, 13 nurses, one pharmacist, four pharmacy technicians, five community health extension workers and 28 volunteers were engaged for the two-day programme which cost the foundation a sum of N2,500,000.

A similar programme was held on December 27, 2011. This time there was health education in churches in Enugwu Ukwu, HIV counseling and testing/awareness campaign, mass de-worming exercise and distribution of insecticide-treated nets in addition to the usual on-the-spot clinical diagnosis, treatment and drug dispensation. The 2011 programme cost about the same amount as that of the previous year. The Foundation is arranging to conduct the 2012 programme in December this year. A new programme, Old Peoples Home, has reached advanced stage of planning and execution. This programme is expected to add more years to senior citizens who have attained the age of 70 years and above.

Another key programme of the Foundation that is having serious impact in the community is the scholarship awards to indigent students.

So far a total of 48 university undergraduates and 81 secondary school students have benefited from the scholarship scheme of the Foundation. More will join in the new academic session. The value of the awards is N75,000 per session for each university student and N15,000 per session for each secondary school student. It is significant to observe that some of the beneficiaries of the scholarship scheme had already withdrawn from their institution due to their inability to cope with the financial demands before the Abana Foundation came to their rescue. The scholarship scheme has so far cost the Foundation N4,815,000.

Other poverty alleviation measures of the Foundation include specialist health intervention and foodstuff assistance schemes. These involve paying medical bills of critically ill patients who cannot afford to pay their bills and distribution of foodstuff to widows and other very indigent people.

There is also the Financial Assistance Programme in which petty traders and small scale businessmen are giving bridging loan to improve their businesses.

These interest-free loans are refunded to the Foundation after 12 months and redistributed to other people who need them. So far some beneficiaries have improved the scale of their businesses and made refunds. It is expected that this scheme will provide a ready pool of funds for genuine traders to make a success of their life ventures instead of staying idle at home and constituting social menace and security risk in the various communities.

Our society needs philanthropists like Senator I.G Abana to give the less privileged hope and future. He is not embarking on this project whose cost by December 2012 will run into hundreds of million of naira because he has so much money to throw around. He may not be the fattest purse in the environment but he believes that giving a little from what God has blessed him with for the benefit, education and welfare needs of the less privileged in his community will, reduce the very wide and yawning gap between the haves and the have-nots.

A knight of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, he is definitely serving the Lord in his own little way. And as Christians we believe that whoever gives and continues to give in the service of humanity will be rewarded double or even triple fold. Afterall the Holy Book says that it is better to give than to receive.

In the next few years, products of Senator Abana Foundation will stand up to be counted and it is the prayer of those of us on the Board of Trustees that the Lord will bless both the giver and receiver and the latter will be in a position to “go and do likewise”.

Mr Sam Ekpe is an Abuja-based Media & PR consultant